Burning Thunder
by TheDogzLife
Summary: Ryan is the son of heroes, excited to begin his own journey. Yet the world is a dangerous place, and amidst the friends met along the way, rumors of a mysterious and unbeatable Pokémon shadow the Unova region, and it may be up to a child who can truly understand Pokémon to stop truth and ideals being erased from the world altogether.
1. Friends

**Well. I said I was writing another Pokémon fanfic~**

**Basically this is based maybe 14-15 years after the events of BW2. It is also SORT OF a sequel to Monochrome... but the sort of is very vague since there's only like, one thing that actually carried over and that was the fact that N and Touko/Hilda/White found each other and the rest of the storyline was pretty much wiped out lmao**

**So yes... this story is about a ferriswheelshipping child. Don't kill me please /hides**

**However. This story does actually have a plotline to it, I guess it'll work a bit like the games since there will be a rival as well... I'm not saying who it is yet though. It's not a canon character though I'll say that much. Also, Ryan can understand Pokémon, though whether that's something inherited from N or whether he's just learnt how to from being around Pokémon from such an early age I'll leave up to you because either could be true. Haha~**

**Sooo before the authors notes get too long, enjoy the story~**

* * *

Distant thunder rumbled above the clouds, occasionally letting loose a flash of light which lit up the leaves of the trees nearby. Rain lashed against the porch and windows. The storm had set in quickly, leaving any unsuspecting victims outside to get soaked.

Fortunately, the trees had provided some shelter. One particular figure had managed to get from the shelter of the forest to the porch without being out in the rain long enough to get soaked through. After quickly attempting to smooth down his naturally-scruffy brown hair, he pushed the door open with one shoulder, scanning the room.

"Coast's clear," he said in a hushed voice, managing to push the door open far enough so that he could get past. His arms behind his back, he managed to close the door with one foot before pausing to decide what to do from there.

"I see you managed to escape the worst of the storm, huh, Ryan?"

The 12-year-old froze mid-step. Hurriedly he jumped around, holding his breath at the sound of a muffled squeak from behind him. "Dad…! Um… yeah!" He gave a nervous grin, hoping he seemed innocent enough.

"Still, you should probably go and dry off," the man commented, folding his arms, his blue-grey eyes betraying a look of suspicion and the action causing an almost waist-length green ponytail to sway slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, I will," Ryan nodded hastily. "Just gonna… go find a towel now… yup…"

"But first," N muttered, walking over with a sigh. "You know your mother's rules, Ryan."

_Ack…_ "Uh… what are you talking about?"

"Honestly, you think I can't tell when someone is carrying a Pokémon?"

For a moment, Ryan just stared at him. Then he groaned. "Busted… sorry Jay…"

"Aww," the Eevee whined, climbing up his arm to cling to his shoulder instead. "No fair."

"I'm sorry, friend, but… Ryan, you know the rules. No Pokémon in the house," N reminded him, reaching out a hand to gently pet the small creature.

"But mistaw," Jay whimpered quietly, putting on his best puppy-dog eyes at the taller human in front of him and flattening his ears back against his neck. "It's waining outside… I don't wanna be out in the wain…"

N hesitated. It was almost possible to see the debate going on in his mind. He cast a quick glance towards the window, looking out into the storm. After a couple of seconds he let out a long sigh.

"Okay, just this once," he said, defeated. "Just… don't let your mother find out…"

"Yes!" Ryan cheered. He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, realising he'd said that rather loud. Hurriedly he glanced around. Considerably quieter, he added, "thanks, Dad! You're the best!"

"I try," N smiled with a modest shrug.

Keeping an eye out for his mother, Ryan hurried through the short hallway, Jay still clinging to his shoulder. The Eevee was looking around at the house in amazement. Given that he lived in the forest, he'd never seen anything like this place before.

Eventually, moment of panic over, Ryan pushed open the door to his room. After scanning the room quickly he walked inside, promptly closing the door behind him as the Eevee hopped down to the ground.

"Okay," Ryan said evenly. "We're safe. Just… don't talk too loudly. I know Mum can't understand you but if she hears anything that doesn't sound human I'm pretty sure she'll get suspicious."

"Fair enough," Jay muttered absently, still glancing around in surprise. "Wow… so this is what's inside those 'house' things…"

Ryan couldn't help but smile at how amazed Jay seemed by everything. To the boy, well… he always considered his room kind of plain. No posters or bright colours, but that was the way he liked it; slightly faded blue walls, an overfilled bookcase in the corner, a bed next to the window, and of course the normal things like a wardrobe and desk.

Immediately Jay made a beeline for the bed, jumping up to land on the mattress and experimentally walking around in a circle. "You people are so lucky. This is loads softer than the grass."

"That's the whole point," Ryan laughed, flopping down onto the bed and nearly causing the Eevee to get thrown into the air. "By the way, that was some very good acting back there…"

Jay blinked at him for a moment. Then the Eevee turned his head, looking slightly flustered. "Yeah, well… not my fault if you humans won't listen to reason."

"Hah," Ryan smiled. "Some day we'll go on a journey. I've heard that when you're travelling you gotta stay at the Pokémon Centres each night unless you know how to set up a tent. And they _definitely_ allow Pokémon inside."

"Pokémon Centre?" Jay echoed, blinking.

"You'll know some day. That is, if Mum and Dad ever let me go on a journey…" Ryan sighed.

"Why don't you ask them?"

"I'll try again soon. When I asked before, Dad just told me I couldn't go. He might have changed his mind since then," he shrugged, sitting up and running a hand through his slightly damp hair. He never had found a towel… but no matter. Only water; it'd dry soon.

As a 12-year-old, Ryan was rather short for his age. It didn't usually bother him too much. Scruffy brown hair reached past his shoulders, and he could tie it back if needed but preferred not to; most of the weight of it was spread out anyway, tying it back hardly did anything. Fashion wasn't exactly his forte either; he'd rather wear what was comfortable rather than what looked good, but for a while now he'd favoured his grey hoodie, black T-shirt, navy trousers and blue-and-white trainers.

"He seems like a decent enough human; I'm sure they'll let you go eventually," Jay yawned, curling up on the corner of the bed and turning into a little ball of fluff.

"Hopefully," Ryan mumbled. "Nearly everyone I know is travelling already. I wanna go too."

* * *

Touko just about managed to stifle a yawn as she glanced at the clock on the wall the following morning. 7:30. She'd been awake for at least fifteen minutes by now and had gotten changed for the day, but there was no sign of anyone else.

"Ryan's forgot to set his alarm clock again…" she sighed. Sometimes it seemed like she was the only person in this house who could willingly get up early. She knew it was unlikely that N would be up for at least an hour or two. _The lazy thing._ But if Ryan wasn't up soon, he'd end up being late for school.

Rolling her eyes and tutting at her family's laziness, Touko made her way down the hall, blinking in surprise when she realised Ryan's door was closed.

"Ryan, time to get up," she called quietly. At no response, she took hold of the door handle, twisting it and pushing the door open slightly.

As she'd suspected, he was still asleep. Yet still, she had to do a double take and blinked in surprise.

There was an Eevee curled up on the pillow next to him.

Immediately Touko opened the door fully, walking into the room. "Ryan! Why is there a Pokémon in here?"

At her rather angered exclamation, Ryan immediately jolted awake. The noise surprised the Eevee too, and it let out a frightened squeak, trying to hide from the woman by cowering behind Ryan's arm as he sat up.

"What… uh…" Ryan glanced around in a half-asleep stance. "Um…"

"There had better be a _very_ good explanation for this, young man."

"It… was raining…? Dad said he could stay just this once…"

Touko just rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Of course." Turning out the door, she vanished down the hallway. "N! I don't care what time it is, you are getting up right now!"

Ryan and Jay exchanged a glance.

"We're dead."

* * *

It had taken Ryan nary five minutes to get changed into his usual clothes. Grabbing his backpack which had been left in the corner of the room from when he'd sorted it out last night, he warily made his way down the hall. Jay jumped onto the bag as he picked it up, scrambling up his arm to perch on his shoulder.

"You know Mum's gonna kill us, right?"

"She is?" Jay squeaked, nearly losing his balance as his fur puffed up alarmingly and he tried to bury his face in Ryan's hair.

"Not literally," Ryan rolled his eyes. "But she sounded pretty mad… maybe we can sneak out…"

Although, it seemed that would be easier said than done. To get to the front door they'd have to go through the living room, and that wasn't exactly quiet right now…

"N! What the heck were you thinking!?"

Ryan froze mid-step. Swallowing hard, he made a 'shh' motion to Jay as he peered around the doorframe, hoping they wouldn't see him.

"What're you going on about, Touko…?" N mumbled, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand. "It's too early…" He looked half-asleep. That was hardly surprising, since he'd probably only just woken up.

"You know what I'm 'going on about', N! You're the whole reason I made that rule about no Pokémon in the house!" Touko huffed, her hands resting on her hips in an unimpressed way.

"Oh…" N blinked slightly, glancing away at the ground as he ran a hand through his scruffier-than-usual hair. "Well, it… it was raining last night… a-and it was just Eevee… he's Ryan's friend…"

"My name's not Eevee!" Jay complained.

"Ah! Jay, quiet!" Ryan hissed.

"And you," Touko said sternly, pointing in his direction. "Get over here. _Now_."

Failing to suppress the quiet yelp of surprise he gave at being spotted, Ryan hesitated for a moment before finally sighing and walking into the room. "Yes, Mum…"

"You know the rules, Ryan. No Pokémon in the house."

"I know, Mum."

"So don't try and smuggle any more of them in here, okay?"

"Yes, Mum…"

"Have I made myself clear?"

Ryan was about to simply echo his last reply once more, but considering she'd probably accuse him of not actually listening to what she was saying he nodded instead. "Mmhmm."

"Good. Now, put the Eevee back outside, go have some breakfast and then get to school. You're gonna be late otherwise."

"Okay…" Ryan sighed. "C'mon, Jay." He walked towards the door, the Eevee still clinging to his shoulder. Jay turned his head away with a huff as they walked past Touko.

"Can I go back to bed now…?" N yawned.

Touko just tutted and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Just don't sleep in 'til midday or anything, sleepyhead."

* * *

When Ryan finally left the house, the Eevee was still waiting patiently outside, ears twitching innocently and tail whisking back and forth. At the sight of the boy he immediately hopped back to his paws with an excited squeak.

"Where are we going? Where are we going?" he chirped.

"I'm going to school, Jay," Ryan reminded simply as he walked past. "Like I do five out of every seven days at this time of morning."

"Oh. Okay!" Jay replied happily, trotting along after him.

"You are way too excited given the situation."

"What? School is fun!"

"Maybe for you it is," Ryan rolled his eyes. "Jay, you're not even supposed to go there. Don't sneak into the janitor's closet again, okay?"

"Humph. If he didn't want me going in there, he should have closed the door and not left that sandwich lying around where anyone could find it," Jay huffed indignantly.

Ryan couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes Pokémon had such a hilarious mix of sense and oblivion…

They were walking along the forest-lined path at the back of the village; this wasn't the quickest way to school, but it was what Ryan considered the scenic rout, and there were sometimes a couple of wild Pokémon that wandered past here. Yet even from here, he could see the clock tower in the centre of town. It reached up above the roofs of the one-story buildings, echoing out a familiar chime.

8:30.

"Oh, heck!" Ryan gasped in realisation, taking off at a run. "C'mon, Jay, we gotta get a move on or I'll be late!"

"Huh? What?" Jay glanced around quickly. Then he let out a quiet squeak and raced after him, tiny paws churning up dust on the path.


	2. Troublemaker

**So, there's no particular upload schedule for this story... mainly because I'm not like five chapters ahead like I was most of the time with MC haha.**

**This is totally what I imagine schools in the Pokémon world to be like okay. Like 50% of the lessons are about Pokémon because let's face it how many people in that universe have a job that doesn't involve Pokémon in some way lmao**

**Also, say hi to all of these minor characters who won't have an important role at all later on.**

* * *

The grounds outside the school were crowded when Ryan finally arrived, children of all ages hovering around as they waited for the bell to go. He usually tried to get here as early as possible, but after all the hassle that morning, that hadn't exactly worked…

"So many people!" Jay gaped, eyes wide. "Where did they all come from?"

"These are the people who are usually here, Jay," Ryan explained. "We just don't always arrive this late. Anyway, you'd better go back to the forest. Classes are gonna start soon."

"Talking to your friends from the woods again, eh, _Harmonia_?"

At the snide voice from nearby, Ryan just sighed heavily. Perhaps he shouldn't bother giving a response. Yet it didn't help that Jay's ears had pricked, padding forward to glance past him with a curious expression.

"Ignore them…" Ryan muttered, about to try and nudge the Eevee back. Yet apparently he wasn't fast enough.

"I see one of them has followed you today, Ryan!" the younger boy snorted, walking over with a couple of other kids in tow. They were the typical bullies-that-got-away within the school; picking on other kids, yet always doing so well in class that it seemed to pass over the teacher's heads.

Although, the fact that Ryan was two years older than them didn't exactly make the fact that he was the one they chose to pick on any less humiliating.

"Hey, it's the Pokémon whisperer!" one of the other boys chuckled.

"Brought your wittle friend to school with you today, Wyan?" Liam scorned. He seemed to be the self-proclaimed leader of the group; the rest of them just decided to follow whatever he did.

"He just likes to walk with me, okay?" Ryan mumbled, barely audibly, hoping that if he didn't put up much of a fight they'd leave him alone.

"Aw, but I'm sure he'd make a good show-and-tell project!" the younger boy grinned, reaching down to grab the Eevee around the middle to pick him up.

Immediately Jay let out a squeak of surprise, flailing his legs as he tried to escape. "Go 'way! Go 'way! Put me down!"

"Wha—hey!" Ryan gasped, making a grab for the younger boy's arm. "Let him go! He doesn't want you picking him up!"

"Did the Pokémon tell you that?" Liam laughed, holding the squirming Eevee further away from him and ignoring the frightened wail the Pokémon let out.

His patience snapping, Ryan reached forward a grabbed the collar of Liam's shirt, his other hand clenching into a fist. "You let him go _right now_, or so help me I'll—"

"Miss!" Liam wailed, dropping the Eevee.

Jay let out a yelp as he hit the ground, hurriedly scrambling back to his paws and taking a lot of paces away from the boy.

"Ryan! What do you think you're doing!?"

Letting go of Liam's shirt, Ryan stepped back, glaring at him for a moment before glancing around to see which teacher was shouting at him this time.

It was the deputy-head, Mrs Kirkbride. _Great_.

The serious-looking teacher marched over, pointing at him. "Apologise. Now."

"Why?"

"Attacking people isn't nice, Ryan!"

_How old do you think I am, five? _"I had to. He was scaring Jay."

Mrs Kirkbride let out a long sigh. "And who is this 'Jay'? There is no student at the school with that name."

"He's…" Ryan glanced around, but the Eevee was nowhere in sight. He'd probably escaped back to the forest to get away from Liam. "He's not a person… he's a Pokémon…"

"Ryan, no more of this silly behaviour," the teacher scolded. A ringing noise echoed through the air from within the school. "Get to class; the school day has started. And don't get into any more trouble."

"Yes, Miss…" Ryan muttered, casting a glance at the gate before wandering off in the direction of the school building, Liam and his gang pulling faces as he walked past.

* * *

Ryan collapsed into his chair with a heavy sigh once he entered the classroom, a hollow thud echoing around as he dropped his head lazily on the desk.

The person in the seat next to him jumped at the noise. "Ryan? That's you, right?"

"Yes, it's me," he muttered, lifting his head and holding one hand to the area he'd smacked into the desk. "My seat, remember?"

"Well, you don't _usually_ sound like you're having a fight with said seat," the blonde-haired girl smiled, her milky eyes looking in his general direction but mostly covered by her long fringe as usual. "I'm guessing you're in a bad mood."

"It's barely even nine in the morning and I've already been scolded twice, one of which wasn't even my fault. What do you think?"

"Okay, okay," Summer held her hands up in mock defence. "Liam and his cronies again?"

"Yup."

"Well, that explains a lot. I don't know why they can't just pick on someone their own age."

Ryan just sighed, unable to give a reply. Sometimes he wondered that too.

He and Summer were the oldest in the school; barely any of the other kids were far over the age of ten. That was the age when most kids left on their Pokémon journeys. Most of the people Ryan had known left within the past two years, and that just left them, the people who weren't allowed to go.

Summer couldn't see. She'd been blind since birth, and at one point had been passionate about wanting to go on a Pokémon journey but had soon realised that wasn't possible. Instead, she'd settled for trying to learn as much about them as possible, so that she could maybe help out at a Pokémon Centre when she was older. It had taken a lot of persuading for the school to take on a child who was blind, but luckily her father was a teacher and she'd been accepted into his class on the condition that he didn't spend more time trying to educate her rather than the other kids.

And then there was him. Stuck here because his parents wouldn't let him leave.

"So, were _both_ of those incidents Liam or…?"

"What?"

"You said you'd been scolded twice."

"Oh…" he mumbled, irritated by the amount of attention Summer paid to detail. "Yeah, I kinda… made Mum angry… I let Jay in the house…" He grimaced. "I have a feeling Dad's probably in more trouble than I am for that one though."

"Good morning, class!" Mr Winfield chimed as he walked through the door. Summer's father always seemed to be in a good mood unless he was telling off a student. "How are you all today?"

"Just great," Ryan replied dismally.

A couple of boys chuckled on the other side of the class. _Liam_.

"Well, no need to sound so happy, Ryan!" the teacher smiled, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Sir, what are we learning about today?" one of the other kids piped up.

"Glad you asked, Peter! Today we'll be learning about Pokémon habitats. Where different Pokémon like to live!"

Sitting up straight at last, Ryan let out a quiet sigh, blocking out the mutterings he could hear across the room. At least lessons about Pokémon were something he could actually take an interest in.

* * *

After eating lunch that day and heading out into the school grounds where all the other kids were, Ryan glanced around quickly before making his way along the side of the school building. It was quiet over here, none of the other kids wanting to hang out where the dumpsters were. Well, and the fact that technically they weren't supposed to go here…

The back gate to the school was closed as usual, but the bars were far apart. Not a wide enough gap for him to fit through, but more than wide enough for a small Pokémon. Casting another quick glance around, Ryan tapped on the metal a couple of times.

Immediately one of the bushes outside the school rustled, a pair of brown ears appearing first as the Eevee poked his head out between the leaves. With an excited squeak, he bounded across the grass towards the gate.

"How long have you been waiting out here?" Ryan laughed.

"I dunno. Not long." Jay wriggled through the bars of the gate, flopping onto the concrete on the other side as he managed to squeeze through. He hopped quickly back to his paws, tail flicking back and forth.

Ryan delved into the pockets of his hoodie, taking out a couple of berries he'd pocketed from his own lunch in the canteen. He crouched down, holding them out to the Eevee. "Here y'go, Jay."

"Yay!" Jay's eyes lit up at the sight of the berries, and he immediately hopped forward to snatch them from his hand, nibbling happily.

Ryan just smiled as he watched the berries vanish. "Don't eat too fast."

"Hm?" Jay blinked, licking his lips, the berries already gone.

"Silly," Ryan rolled his eyes with a smile.

Jay tipped his head to one side. His ears twitched. Then he looked past Ryan, taking a step towards the playground.

"Wait, where are you going?" Ryan asked, trying to nudge him back.

"I hear something," Jay muttered matter-of-factly, padding forward and over to the corner of the wall.

Ryan didn't really have much choice but to follow. "Hear what? There's just kids everywhere," he pointed out as he peered around the corner.

"I hear the mean person," Jay growled.

_Mean person? Oh, right. He means Liam._

Ryan tried his best to follow where the Eevee was looking; and eventually he saw Summer sat near the entrance to the school building, the only place she could really go without getting lost amongst all the other kids. Liam and a couple of his cronies were standing in front of her, seeming like they were attempting to tower over her despite the fact that she couldn't actually see them.

"Oh, great," Ryan sighed. "The heck do they want with Summer?"

"Isn't it autumn?" Jay questioned.

"What? No, just…" Ryan rolled his eyes. "Just wait here, Jay. I'll be back in a moment. If anyone comes over here then go back to the forest."

"Aww," Jay huffed, his ears drooping slightly.

Hoping the Eevee wouldn't get spotted by anyone, Ryan wandered out from the cover of the corner, heading along the side of the wall as he strained to hear what Liam and his gang were saying. They were too busy talking to notice him and, well, Summer wouldn't see him anyway.

It wasn't until he was less than five metres away that he could actually clearly hear the words.

"But your father is the _teacher_! You can convince him to give us better grades! Or at the very least lower the grades of that Pokémon-speaking idiot!"

_Really? _Ryan just looked at them blankly. That was what all the fuss was about?

"Or, you lot could just, I don't know, study more?" Summer replied matter-of-factly, seeming unfazed. "It's not my fault if Ryan gets higher grades than you."

"But it's not fair! That idiot's cheating! He can just go ask a Pokémon for the answers!"

"So?"

Liam looked more furious than ever. "So get your father to boost our grades because we're at a disadvantage!"

"Can't. Sorry."

"I don't care whether you think you can or not!" Liam snapped, clenching his fist. "Do it or else I'll break your nose! Then you won't be able to see _or_ smell!"

Summer shifted away slightly, looking unsure as to whether he was actually going to hit her or not. "You wouldn't do that. Dad would find out. Or any of the teachers would, as a matter of fact. I'd tell them it was you."

"If you snitch on anyone I'll hurt you even more!"

"Yeah, so what about if _I_ tell them?" Ryan spoke up at last, walking over to stand next to his friend.

"Ryan?" Summer blinked, not attempting to look up at him seeing as with all the people nearby she couldn't tell where he was.

"You!" Liam growled, shoving him. Not expecting the sudden force on his shoulder, Ryan staggered backwards, luckily close enough to the wall that he fell against that instead of just falling to the ground. "Who do you think you are, Pokémon boy?"

"I know who I am. I just don't know what your deal is."

"You stupid idiot cheater!" Liam snarled, grabbing the front of his hoodie and nearly lifting him off the ground. Liam may have been two years younger but Ryan was still shorter. "You know what my deal is!"

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Jay squeaked.

Ryan gasped at the sound of the Eevee, but Liam didn't seem to notice.

And that was probably why he looked like he'd seen a ghost when the little Pokémon jumped at him.

Liam shrieked as Jay sunk his teeth into the boy's arm, causing him to let go of Ryan instantly. As he was dropped, Ryan just about managed to regain his balance. "Jay!"

"Get him off me!" Liam wailed, flailing as he tried to throw the Eevee off.

Eventually Jay lost his grip, flung into the air with a squeal as he was finally forced to let go. The Eevee yelped as he hit the concrete, lying dazed for a few seconds before pushing himself back to his paws. Liam practically shrieked as he saw the bite marks on his arm.

"Jay!" Ryan cried again, shoving past the couple of kids who were standing in his way to gently lift the Pokémon into his arms. "You okay?"

"Mmhmm…" Jay mumbled wearily, huddling against him for a moment. Then his ears twitched, and he glanced up at Ryan with wide eyes. "I mean… um… nooo… need berries…"

Ryan just smiled. _He's fine._

"Ryan Harmonia! What on _earth_ are you doing!?"

At the furious-sounding voice, Ryan just froze. Mrs Kirkbride again. Why did she have to show up at the worst times?

"He made the Pokémon attack me, Miss!" Liam wailed, holding up his wounded arm and sniffing loudly, genuine tears welling in his eyes. The kids who were gathered around looked shocked, and many of the others across the playground had turned their heads to see what was going on.

Mrs Kirkbride's eyes widened in horror as she saw the blood. Her head snapped around to look at Ryan, her eyes burning with anger worse than he'd ever seen. Jay shrank deeper in his arms as he glanced sheepishly up at the teacher. This was bad. _Very_ bad.

"Mr Stanford's office. _Now_."


	3. Honesty

**Courtesy of Joe suggesting I give this thing an update schedule... the problem with that is MC was written in advance, and this isn't. But I could always say that if I end up writing too quickly I'll upload on Saturdays...? For now it's kind of all over the place though sorry OTL**

**Also welcome to the possibly only appearance of Mr Stanford. Sonic pointed out that he seemed like the type of guy to have a Stoutland and et voila.**

* * *

"Ah, Miss Harmonia, is it? Please, take a seat."

_Miss Harmonia. _Touko felt the words echo slightly in her mind. Very few people called her by her last name, and while she liked the fact that it reminded her of how she'd been happily married for many years now, sometimes being addressed in such a manner was slightly intimidating.

"Um… thanks," she nodded somewhat awkwardly, settling down on one of the chairs across the desk. It usually took her quite a lot to become unnerved, but this seemed one of the situations that could cause that feeling easily.

It felt like forever since she'd been in a head teacher's office. At least previously it would have been on reasonable terms. She hadn't imagined ever having to be called in as a parent for her child's behaviour.

"I'm assuming you know what this is about?" Mr Stanford questioned, resting his elbows on the desk as he held his hands together in a thoughtful motion.

"I… know the gist of what happened…" Touko answered simply, trying to avoid eye contact. This guy was definitely intimidating enough for a head teacher. He was the sort of person whom children would have been scared to annoy, so they'd keep in line. Late forties, black hair that was starting to grey, face framed with a neatly-trimmed beard. Other than appearance, all Touko knew about the guy was that he had a Stoutland that often wandered the school; right now it was outside the room, no doubt being fussed over by N.

"I'm sorry for asking you to come out here, but I simply cannot let something like this go unnoticed," the teacher sighed. "The school prohibits unsupervised Pokémon battling, as I'm sure you are aware, although this deems more severe even than that."

_I can't even understand half of what he's saying… _"Well, I'm sorry for whatever Ryan has done… I'm sure he's sorry too…"

"But ma'am, this is a serious case indeed," Mr Stanford added, sitting up straight and adjusting his tie slightly. "This isn't a minor case of rule-breaking that has occurred. Another child was injured because of your son's actions. This isn't the first time his behaviour has been questioned either."

Unsure of how to reply, whether she should apologise again or not, Touko remained silent.

"And then I must address this point. We have allowed Ryan to stay here for education for the past two years, but if his behaviour is going to effect or even harm the other students, we may no longer be able to. I must ask, what is the reason for him not having left on his journey yet?"

"Oh…" Touko muttered, sighing quietly. She hadn't expected this to be brought up. "It's… it's complicated. Family matters, I guess."

The teacher sat there for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Hmm. If that is the case, then I'm not sure what the school can do. But if there is a way around these… 'family matters', I believe Ryan would benefit from embarking on his own journey. Not only does it teach children how to look after Pokémon, it also teaches them responsibility and about how reality works."

"We'll think about it," Touko nodded. "Is… that all…?"

"Almost. I would like to ask that you take Ryan with you now, and keep him off school for the rest of the week. His behaviour cannot go unpunished, I'm afraid. Perhaps you could have a think during this time about the possibility of allowing him to leave on his journey."

"Right… okay," Touko gave a half-hearted smile. That might be easier said than done. "Thank you."

* * *

The corridor was eerily quiet when everyone was in lessons. The sound of the clock on the wall ticking was almost amplified by the silence, and Ryan fought to try and get the sound out of his head.

He was sat on one of the chairs outside the head teacher's office, his knees pulled up to his chest and his head buried in his arms. He'd told Jay to go back to the forest before he was sent in here, and hopefully the Eevee had actually listened to him this time.

N was sat next to him. Mr Stanford's Stoutland, Birney, was flopped lazily on the ground nearby, its head resting on N's lap and stubby tail waving back and forth as he scratched behind its ears. Quite frankly, Ryan was somewhat relieved that his father was too distracted by the Pokémon to say anything about what had happened.

At the sound of footsteps echoing along the corridor, Ryan lifted his head slightly, only to see Liam being escorted back to class by the school nurse, now with a large plaster on his arm where the Eevee had bitten him. As he walked past, he cast a glare at Ryan, muttering something under his breath.

"Freak."

Gasping slightly at the word, Ryan nearly jumped out of the chair – if Liam wanted a fight, he could have one – but was stopped by someone grabbing his arm. As he glanced back arrogantly, N shot him a fierce look; silently telling him to stay sat and not get into any more trouble.

Simply letting out a huff instead, Ryan sat back on the chair, glaring at Liam until the boy had vanished around the corner. After that, it was only a few seconds before the silence was broken.

"I'm disappointed in you, Ryan."

"I didn't even do anything," Ryan muttered, not even looking over at N this time.

"Pokémon are friends," N reminded him, running a hand over Birney's fur. "It's not fair to involve Eevee in your arguments with the other children. He could have been hurt."

"It's not as if I _made_ him attack Liam."

"No, but you could have stopped him. Then you wouldn't be in this mess."

"I don't _control_ Jay, Dad!" Ryan snapped. "You of all people know that! It's not _my_ fault if Liam decides to try and beat me up, and it's not _my_ fault if Jay decides to try and protect me!"

"Don't shout at me, Ryan," N said sternly. "You shouldn't let Eevee into the school in the first place. It's dangerous for a small Pokémon."

"Why are you blaming everything on _me_?" Ryan cried. "I can't help it if Jay doesn't always listen to what I say!"

"Then perhaps I should speak to him later. But for now, maybe you should treat our friends better."

Ryan was about to shout at him again. He didn't care if they were in the middle of a school where anyone might hear him. Yet he was interrupted by a click as the door to the head teacher's office opened. Ryan jumped to his feet as Touko emerged.

"What'd he say?" he asked impatiently.

Birney let out a loud yawn, climbing back to his paws and trotting back over to the office where his trainer was. Touko stepped aside slightly to let the dog Pokémon past.

"We should talk about this later," Touko said quietly. "But for now, Ryan, he said to keep you off school for the rest of the week."

Ryan just blinked in surprise. He'd expected some kind of unwarranted punishment but this didn't seem like a bad thing at all. He didn't have to go to school or be around Liam for the rest of the week? That was definitely good! "Oh. Okay then!"

"Don't think this means you're getting off scot-free," Touko added meaningfully. "As soon as we get back home, you're grounded."

"…Great." Ryan let out a long sigh. Maybe this wasn't such a good thing after all.

* * *

Ryan let out yet another sigh to add to the count as he turned the page of a book. Being grounded meant he had to stay in his room; and that was boring. With not much else to do he'd simply flopped onto the bed, propping himself up on his elbows to stare blankly at the book in front of him. Pokémon types and effectiveness. He knew all this stuff already.

Bored, he threw his head down onto the mattress instead. He didn't like being trapped in here. The door wasn't locked but he knew someone would probably catch him if he tried to leave.

Suddenly he heard a scratching noise. Lifting his head and blinking in surprise, Ryan looked over to the window to see a furry shape scrabbling at the glass.

A slight smile on his face, Ryan reached over to pull at the latch, managing to unlock it and slide the window up. "Jay! What are you doing here?"

"I was bored," Jay chirped. "And I saw you in here. So I thought I'd say hi."

"Well, you've said hi," Ryan pointed out. "If Mum catches you in here again I'll be in even more trouble."

"Aww," Jay whined, ears drooping slightly. They pricked a moment later though as he waved a paw. "What's that?"

"What?" Ryan blinked, following the Eevee's gaze. "It's a book, Jay. I've told you what books are before."

"I know, but what's in the book? You said that books have lots of infer… iffy… formation!"

"It's information about Pokémon types and what they're effective against," Ryan shrugged. "If you want to know anything about it then maybe you should go talk to the other Pokémon."

"But I wanna play hide and seek!"

"Go ask some of the other Pokémon then."

"But they find me straight away! It's more fair when we play!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Jay, but I can't leave my room," Ryan sighed. "Grounded."

"Huh?" Jay tilted his head. "Why can't you leave? Is… is there a barrier or something?" He experimentally waved a paw through the window as if he expected there to be some kind of invisible force field there.

"No, I just—" he broke off. "Actually, that's a good point." He wouldn't stand a chance of sneaking out through the house, but he could definitely fit through the window. He'd just have to try and get around the building without being spotted by N or Touko. "Okay then. Hide and seek it is."

* * *

Thankfully the ground had dried since yesterday's thunderstorm, otherwise Ryan's unceremonious window escape would have ended a lot messier as he hit the ground outside. Quickly climbing back to his feet, he hurriedly dusted himself off before glancing around.

His window faced the back garden; why the houses here even needed gardens when the forest was so close by, he didn't know. The fence surrounding the area did a pretty bad job of bordering the garden, although this was probably intentional so that the wild Pokémon could get in. The fences were edged by bushes, growing berries that would heal conditions like burns and poison in case they were ever needed.

"So who's going to hide?" Jay asked cheerily, ears twitching.

"Shh!" Ryan hissed quietly. "We need to get away from the house first. Head into the forest, Jay, I'll come look for you in a minute. And try and keep quiet."

Eyes widening slightly in excitement, Jay nodded determinedly, racing away around the side of the house. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. If there was anything that would have given his escape away, it would have been the Eevee.

Quietly, Ryan edged along the wall, ducking past the windows of the house as he tried to remain unseen. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to get back in without being noticed, or whether anyone would realise he wasn't in his room… ah well, he'd deal with that later. He wanted to go out into the forest. And besides, Jay was still waiting for him. Knowing how stubborn that Eevee could be, he couldn't get sent back inside or Jay would spend the rest of the day waiting for him.

He peered around the corner, seeing nothing but the empty path leading from the front door out into the forest. Taking a couple of steps forward, Ryan tried to see through the windows at the front of the house. There was no cover between here and the forest, so perhaps he'd just have to make a run for it.

Perhaps he'd been too focused on watching the front of the house, because he hadn't noticed that there was anyone behind him.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Ryan let out a yelp of surprise as someone grabbed his shoulders, and he hurriedly span around, nearly tripping over backwards as he tried to bat their arms away. After a few seconds the initial shock faded, and he was left looking guiltily up at the person who'd caught him.

_Dad… great._

"The forest," Ryan stated matter-of-factly. "Jay wanted to play hide-and-seek."

"Ryan, you know you're grounded," N sighed.

"But I didn't—"

"Look," N interrupted, obviously knowing where this was heading. "I know that… being locked in your room isn't fun, but… at least it's only for the rest of the day. You can put up with it until your punishment is over, I'm sure."

"But it's not fair!" Ryan complained. "I haven't even done anything to be punished for!"

"Well you've clearly done _something_ wrong, or the school wouldn't have suspended you!"

"But I didn't! Liam was going to hurt me, and Jay—" he broke off. "They just think I did something wrong because I can understand Pokémon. But I didn't…!"

"We've been over this already," N pointed out sternly. "Just because you didn't tell Jay to attack that boy doesn't mean you're not responsible for what happened."

"Just because I can understand what he's saying, is that it?" Ryan shouted. "I can understand other people too, but that doesn't make me responsible for what any of them do!"

"Ryan, that's not what I meant—"

"This is the reason Liam and his idiot friends pick on me! Just because I can understand Pokémon. And now you're doing it too! It's not fair! If I didn't have this ability then none of this would have happened…!"

"Ryan, don't…"

"Shut up!" he cried, voice wavering slightly. "This is your fault! If you weren't my father then I could just be normal like everyone else!"

His words were met with a stunned silence. N just froze, his eyes widening slightly in shock.

Not giving him a chance to form a reply, Ryan turned and ran for the cover of the forest. This time, he wasn't stopped.


	4. Hide and Seek

**Wheeee short chapter sorry. But there is shipping in it so we're cool yeh? ouo;;**

* * *

For a few minutes now, Touko had been wondering whether she should go out and look for Ryan. After all, he was supposed to be grounded. Yet after what she'd just heard, maybe it'd be best to leave him alone to calm down for a while.

In the meantime, perhaps she should try and deal with N. A few minutes after the shouting had stopped he'd stumbled back into the house and collapsed on the sofa, looking rather distressed. Now he was sat there, his head resting on his hands and staring blankly at the ground.

Touko had heard the whole argument from inside. She'd decided it'd be best if she didn't interfere, given the chances were that would probably have only made things worse. Hovering beside the sofa for a few moments, she finally let out a quiet sigh.

"N, you okay?"

At first, he didn't reply. She wondered if he was even listening to her.

"I… he said…" N replied shakily. "I-if I wasn't…"

After waiting a few seconds for him to continue, Touko moved over to sit next to him. "I heard… he doesn't really mean it, N. All kids say things like that at his age."

He looked up at her at last, a look of worry and hurt in his eyes. "Sounded like he meant it to me…" He let out a long sigh. "Sorry, Touko… I'm still not very good at this whole 'parent' thing." N glanced away once more. "Didn't exactly have the best role model…"

"Oh, N…" Touko sighed, shuffling over to pull him into a hug. "It's okay. You're a great father for Ryan. He's just upset because he's being punished. All kids are like that. I know I certainly was when I was his age."

N didn't give a worded reply, eventually returning the hug. He rested his head on her shoulder, letting out a quiet defeated sigh.

After a long moment, the silence was finally broken as he spoke once more. "So what did that guy say?"

"Huh?"

"The teacher… you said we needed to talk about it later…"

"Oh…" Touko mumbled. She hadn't expected him to bring it up. And considering what the advice Mr Stanford had given her was, she didn't think N would be too happy to hear it… but she knew that he'd pester her about it if she didn't tell him. Perhaps she could try and avoid the whole story for now and save the rest for when he wasn't upset. "He… said to keep Ryan off school until Monday as punishment…"

"That's all…?" N blinked, sitting up and tilting his head slightly.

So much for avoiding the whole story. She would have just not brought up the advice, but she wasn't going to lie to N by telling him there was nothing else. "Well… he also said… that Ryan might benefit from going on a journey… because it might teach him how to be more 'responsible'," she muttered.

"So what you're saying is," N replied bluntly, a smidge of hurt in his eyes, "it's my fault… because I wouldn't let him go…"

"No, no, it's not your fault," Touko hurriedly shook her head. "But… why don't we at least think about letting him go on his own journey? You know he won't purposely hurt Pokémon, N. He's got enough of your genes to stop him doing that." She smiled slightly.

"I know, it's just…" he trailed off, as if trying to find a way to describe what he was thinking. "I… still don't really like the idea of him becoming a trainer… I mean, most of what they do is battling, so whether it's on purpose or not, Pokémon _will_ get hurt."

"But they'll get stronger too," Touko added. "That's how they form strong bonds with their trainers. Besides, I was a trainer. You liked me…"

At long last she managed to get a smile out of him. Only a slight one, but a smile nonetheless. "I know. And your Pokémon were happy to fight alongside you, but… doesn't mean I like _all_ trainers."

Touko let out a quiet sigh. "Well, I'm sure Ryan will be considerate. He does care about Pokémon. And I'm sure whatever happened today was an accident, even if the school don't seem to think so. Maybe at least think about letting him go?"

N was silent for a long moment. "…Okay. I'll… I'll think about it… if I can get him to not hate me, at least…"

"He doesn't hate you. He'll calm down soon, N," Touko smiled, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Just… give him ten minutes. If you go look for him then he might have gotten over it."

* * *

Ryan slowed his pace at last as he stormed into the forest, the sound of the crunching leaves beneath him startling a couple of Pidove in the trees. Their surprised squawks snapped him out of his angered trance, and he hurriedly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Sorry!" he called, although the Pidove had already flown away.

He felt terrible. True, he'd been mad about the fact that he was in trouble mainly because of other people, but the argument had only made it even worse. He hadn't meant to say that stuff to N. He didn't mean it… but that didn't mean he felt like going back to apologise. Not yet. He was still angry at his father for pinning the blame solely on him.

For now, he had to deal with the reason he'd come out here in the first place. Hoping that he wouldn't scare any more of the forest Pokémon, he raised his voice. "Jay?"

No response. The Eevee had wanted to play hide-and-seek anyway. He was probably hiding still and wouldn't reply to his call.

Unfortunately for him, they'd played hide and seek before. And there was one place where Jay always hid to try and cheat.

Speeding up so that he was soon racing through the forest once more, Ryan dodged around the trees and bushes. He knew this place like the back of his hand, as well as most of the Pokémon in it. They'd lived at the edge of the forest for as long as he could remember, and he spent so much time here that Touko had described it as being 'his second home'.

He could still remember the day a Leafeon had come to the forest. She'd been a sickly thing, badly poisoned for a long time, trying to carry an egg around with her. Ryan had found the Pokémon out in the forest on his way home from school one day, and the Leafeon had seemed scared of him at first; upon realising he could understand her, she'd begged for his help before collapsing on the grass. He'd managed to fit the egg safely into his bag and carry the weak Pokémon back to the house. Even though N had done everything he could to save the Leafeon, she hadn't made it through the night.

Ryan had continued to look after the egg, however. Getting help from some of the wild Pokémon of the forest to keep it warm until it eventually hatched. The Eevee that came out of the egg had been Jay, and he'd been Ryan's friend ever since.

_Aha_. He could see the place now. One of the tallest trees in the forest. There were plenty of clumps of leaves among the branches, and Jay liked to pick there as a hiding place because he didn't think Ryan would be able to get up there. He'd proven him wrong last time, but the chances were that was where Jay had chosen to hide.

Skidding to a halt at the base of the tree, Ryan glanced up through the branches. "Jay? I know you're up there. No cheating this time."

There was no reply. Everything was silent, and for a moment Ryan thought that maybe the Eevee wasn't there after all. Then there was a rustling in the branches above, a couple of leaves fluttering to the ground, and Ryan smiled slightly.

He jumped up to catch one of the lowest branches, managing to heave himself up onto it. If Jay thought he could win just by staying where he was instead of revealing his hiding location, well, he'd prove him wrong.

It didn't take him long to scale the tree. He'd had plenty of practice climbing by now. He just had to make sure the branches were strong enough to take his weight, and then pull himself up to the next one. After a few minutes he reached the clump of leaves where the Eevee would be hiding.

"Found you!" he cheered, quickly pushing the leaves apart.

He was met by a flurry of wings as an angry Tranquill flew from the leaves, inches from his face.

"Ah!" Ryan gasped as the shock caused him to lose his balance He fell a metre before managing to grab onto one of the lower branches, left hanging from it as he glanced around to try and find where the flying Pokémon had gone. "Sorry!"

The Tranquill looked back at him with a glare, screeching a curse.

_And the same to you too, _Ryan huffed. It looked like Jay wasn't here after all, so he might as well get down from this tree. He just needed to either climb up onto this branch or drop down to one of the ones below. This wasn't one of the branches he'd used to climb up here, though…

He knew even before he heard the snap that this one wasn't strong enough to hold his weight.

_Ack! _The wood creaked alarmingly, cracking closer to the trunk and sending him falling to the ground below. Ryan tried to grab onto one of the other branches but he couldn't reach any of them in time.

He hit the ground with an explosion of leaves – which, strangely enough, was accompanied by a yelp. That was weird. Leaves didn't yelp. They weren't usually this soft either…

"Huh…? Whoa!" Ryan cried as suddenly he was thrown off whatever he'd landed on, this time actually falling among the autumn leaves. He took a moment to realise that nothing was broken - thank Arceus – and then looked up at last. He was greeted by an irritated snarl, black and red fur bristling slightly.

"Oh…" he mumbled, laughing nervously as he sat up. "Hi, Zoroark…"


	5. Lessons Learnt

**Jay is the most precious thing ever sometimes okay.**

**Also; Pokémon lifespans. They're apparently very long.**

* * *

The fox didn't seem too happy about having a child fall on him. The snarling attitude remained for a few moments, piercing eyes narrowed. Yet it didn't last for long. After five seconds the elderly fox gave a sigh, standing on his hind legs to be at full height, mane still ruffled slightly.

"Don't fall out of trees. It's dangerous."

"Well duh," Ryan rolled his eyes, picking a couple of leaves from his hair and jacket. "… Thanks for catching me though."

"_Catching_ you?" Zoroark blinked. "Children… actually, I was looking for you."

"Catching, having someone fall on you, same thing," Ryan shrugged jokingly. "Wait, you were looking for me? Why?" A sudden thought crossed his mind. "… Dad sent you, didn't he?"

Zoroark shook his head. "No. But I saw you come here. Why were you shouting at Natural?"

"Natu—oh, Dad, right," Ryan muttered. He hardly ever heard anyone call N by his full name; sometimes he forgot he even had one. As far as he knew, Zoroark was the only one who did. Apparently the Pokémon had been one of his friends growing up, and given how old the fox was, that wasn't hard to believe.

"Ah, I forgot. He doesn't go by that name much now, does he?" the fox mumbled absently. "Still, he doesn't like being shouted at. Why did you raise your voice?"

"I was angry," Ryan muttered, folding his arms over his knees. He didn't want to be scolded again, especially not by a Pokémon. "Look, I… I'll go apologise soon, okay?"

Zoroark tipped his head to one side, settling down on the leaves to sit next to him. "Did something happen?"

Ryan just gave a huff.

"I see," the fox muttered. "Guess I'll have to ask Natural instead—"

"No!" Ryan interrupted. "I mean… fine, I'll tell you. A kid at school was trying to beat me up and Jay attacked them. The school blamed me for it and I've basically been kicked out temporarily."

Through his very brief explanation, Zoroark had listened, a blank look on his face. His ears twitched slightly. "Humans. They're complete idiots."

"Hey!" Ryan protested. "Not all of them!"

"You just fell out of a tree," the dark-type pointed out with a smirk. He blinked curiously. "Speaking of which, why _were_ you in a tree?"

"Looking for Jay."

"… You were looking for an Eevee in a tree?"

"He's somewhere out here waiting for me to find him," the boy shrugged. "Hide and seek. He usually hides in the leaves up there," he pointed up at the branches. "But he's not there this time, so I guess he finally found a new hiding place."

Following his gaze, Zoroark looked up at the tree, ears twitching slightly. Then he glanced around at the forest. "Want some help? You'll be searching for the rest of the day with your human sense of smell in a forest this big."

"Sure," Ryan shrugged. There were far too many places in this forest where the Eevee could be hiding. Having a Pokémon help out would mean he actually stood a chance of finding him.

* * *

The two of them had split up to search different parts of the forest. Regardless of his age, Zoroark still had a keen sense of smell, and it didn't take him long to pick up the Eevee's scent among the greenery in the forest. He could remember a few times when the younger Pokémon had pestered him into playing hide-and-seek in the past, but had always complained about how he found him so quickly.

The scent was strongest when he reached a small clearing; the fluffy brown tail sticking out of the bushes at the side just made it even more obvious as to where the missing Pokémon was. With a sigh at how useless the normal-type's hiding skills seemed to be, Zoroark walked over and pushed the leaves aside.

Immediately the Eevee yelped and jumped back, landing on the grass and nearly toppling over out of surprise. "Hey! I was trying to hide!"

"Trying," Zoroark repeated simply, dropping back to all fours and padding away across the clearing. "Come on. Ryan's looking for you."

"But that's the whole idea. We were playing hide and seek!" Jay rolled his eyes, running forwards to pounce on the end of Zoroark's mane.

Yelping as his head was suddenly pulled back, Zoroark glanced around with a quiet growl. The Eevee stepped back hurriedly, looking as innocent as possible.

Jay's ears twitched briefly. "Zoroark? You're like, really old, right?"

"Excuse me?" the fox huffed. "I wouldn't say _really_ old…"

"And you know a lot of stuff, right?"

"Perhaps. That would depend what you mean by 'stuff'."

"Do you know about Pokémon types and what they're… fee-ethic… against?"

"What?" Zoroark blinked. "You mean effective?"

"Yeah! That's what I said!"

"I'm sure," the fox rolled his eyes, sitting down on the grass. "What did you want to know?"

"I don't know. But Ryan was looking at one of those 'book' things earlier, and there was stuff about Pokémon types in it! And, and, I know that each of us have our own type, but what are we effective against?"

"Explaining each of the types would take ages. What exactly do you want to know?"

"Well… um…" the Eevee looked thoughtful for a moment. "You're a dark type, right?"

Zoroark nodded.

"What are you effective against?"

"Psychic and ghost types," Zoroark replied simply. "Like Solosis or Yamask."

"Oh! Oh! I know them!" Jay chirped happily. "And I'm… normal type! What am I effective against?"

"Erm…" Zoroark hesitated for a moment. "Nothing…"

"What!? I'm not effective against _anything_!?" Jay cried, ears drooping. "That's not fair!"

"Normal types and normal type moves aren't effective against anything, but you can still learn moves of other types that would be effective against others. You just won't be as good at using them," Zoroark explained simply, not wanting to have the Eevee whining at him. "Besides, you're an Eevee. Once you evolve you'll become a different type."

"I will?" Jay's eyes widened. "What type will I be then?"

"Depends what you evolve into," the fox muttered.

There was a short silence as the Eevee seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. After a couple of seconds he looked up at Zoroark once more. "You're a strong Pokémon, aren't you?"

A look of somewhat pride flashed across the fox's face. "I guess you could say that."

"Teach me how to fight!"

Zoroark almost did a double take at the requests, raising an eyebrow. "No."

"_Why_?"

"You're not strong enough to fight me. You're still young. Now let's go and find Ryan," Zoroark got back to his paws, starting off across the clearing once more.

"I'm plenty strong!" Jay protested. The older Pokémon only responded with a mild-mannered laugh. "I am!" he charged forwards, ramming into one of Zoroark's forelegs with a tackle.

The impact wasn't enough to harm the fox, nor really do anything other than cause the Eevee to bounce off his leg and fall backwards onto the ground. Even so, Zoroark snapped his head around to glare at the Eevee, jumping for him and pinning the small creature to the ground under one paw.

"Still think you're strong enough to fight me?" he snarled.

"Sure I am!" Jay replied somewhat breathlessly from being pressed against the ground, scrabbling to try and escape from the larger Pokémon's grip. He didn't seem to be willing to give up, that was for sure.

"Zoroark! What are you doing!?"

At the exclamation, both Pokémon glanced around in surprise to see N standing at the edge of the clearing, a somewhat horrified expression on his face.

"Zoroark's teaching me how to fight!" Jay chirped happily.

"O…kay…" N muttered.

Realising the Eevee was still scrabbling at his paw – Jay's claws were surprisingly sharp – Zoroark let the small Pokémon free, stepping back and clearing his throat slightly. "Are you looking for Ryan?"

"Ha ha! I win!" Jay cheered, hopping back to his paws.

"Yeah, I am," N sighed. "Hopefully he's not still mad at me…"

"He won't be," the fox assured. "If you're going to look for him, take this one with you." He nudged Jay forward. "Ryan's looking for him."

"That's because you interrupted our game of hide and seek!" Jay huffed, not seeming too bothered as he lost his balance from being pushed. "I was gonna win too."

The man's eyes softened slightly at the young Pokémon. "C'mon, Eevee. Let's go look for Ryan."

"My name isn't Eevee!" Jay complained. Even so, he skipped over to N. The Eevee paused to look up at him, tipping his head to one side. It looked like he wanted to get to his shoulder. "Why are you so tall? Ryan is a lot easier to climb on…"

With a quiet laugh, N crouched down, offering the Pokémon a hand. "I'm older than Ryan. He'll get taller eventually."

"Ohh. Well, I hope that isn't too soon," Jay mumbled, jumping for the hand and climbing up N's arm to sit on his shoulder, narrowly avoiding running up the sleeve of his white shirt instead.

"Any idea where Ryan is?" N asked as he stood back up to full height.

"Whoa! I can see forever!" Jay squeaked, nearly losing his balance in his excitement. He didn't seem to register the question at first. "Oh, uh, I dunno. I don't think he's hiding. We can find him easy!"

"Okay then. Be seeing you, my friend," N said warmly, reaching out a hand to scratch Zoroark behind the ears. The fox let out a content grumble before slinking away into the bushes.

* * *

A couple of minutes of searching later, Jay had decided to flop lazily over N's shoulder instead. He didn't mind, but it kept worrying him that the Eevee might fall off…

"Maybe I have been a bit too harsh on Ryan," N sighed, talking more to himself than the Pokémon hanging from his shoulder. "You were there, Eevee. What exactly happened earlier?"

Jay's ears twitched as he sat up, struggling to find balance on N's shoulder while the man was walking. "You mean at the school place? Well… the mean person looked like he was going to attack Ryan. So I attacked him instead!"

"And nobody's told you you're not supposed to attack people?" N asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Well, people don't usually hurt us, right? I mean, you and Ryan are nice… not sure about the scary lady…"

N laughed quietly. "Touko isn't scary unless you make her angry. She'd never hurt you. But I suppose you do have a point."

"Also," Jay continued, batting at the hair at the side of his face with one paw. "I have a question."

"Hmm?" N mumbled, lifting a hand to gently move the paw away from his face.

"Do all people go on journeys?"

N blinked in surprise. This wasn't the sort of question he'd expected, especially from a Pokémon. "Well… most of them do…"

"Did you?"

"… I guess you could say so. But it wasn't exactly the same kind of journey."

"Then why can't Ryan go on a journey?" Jay asked. "I wanna see what's outside of this forest!"

"It's… dangerous outside of the forest," N replied quietly, remembering a certain Leafeon he'd been unable to save from whatever horror she'd been put through before arriving here. "There's also a lot of battling. You don't want to get hurt, do you?"

"No, but that's why I'll win the battles!" Jay chirped, puffing out his cheeks. "I wanna be a strong Pokémon! Like Zoroark!"

N sighed inwardly at the Eevee's words. "It's not quite as simple as that…"

"Jay!"

He froze at the call from somewhere nearby. Instantly the Eevee's ears pricked and he scrambled back down N's arm before hopping to the ground, obviously deciding against the almost six-foot fall otherwise.

"I hear Ryan!" Jay chirped, bounding through the leaves. "He's nearby! I'll find him! Follow me!"

"Right…" N muttered, heading after the excitable Eevee.

* * *

"Jay, you can come out now! You win, okay?" Ryan called after spending ten minutes wandering aimlessly around the forest trying to find the Pokémon. At no response, he let out a defeated sigh. Perhaps Zoroark was having better luck than he was.

Yet it wasn't long before he heard pawsteps hurrying through the forest, fallen leaves crunching and rustling as they shifted across the ground. A moment later the bushes rustled, and out burst an Eevee.

"I win!" Jay echoed, galloping over to Ryan and leaping up to cling to his shoulder. "Found you!"

"I thought _you_ were the one who was hiding?" Ryan laughed, as the Eevee hopped over to his other shoulder before flopping down into his arms instead.

"I was. But you were taking too long," Jay said matter-of-factly, rolling around in his arms and letting out a loud yawn.

Ryan just smiled. Yet it quickly faded at the sound of another voice.

"You've done a good job of looking after Eevee, Ryan."

"Dad…" Ryan muttered, looking up to see N standing at the far side of the clearing. At being noticed he smiled slightly, walking over and crouching down to pet the Pokémon. Jay let out a happy purr as he settled more comfortably in the boy's arms.

Remaining silent for a few moments, Ryan finally let out a quiet sigh. "Dad, I… I'm sorry… I shouted those things…" He'd regretted it since the words left his mouth, but he wasn't going to admit that. Still, after what Zoroark had told him, it had only made him feel even worse. "Didn't mean it…"

Giving a half-hearted smile, N stepped back. "It's okay. You were angry. People don't always say things that they mean when they're upset."

"Yeah…" Ryan mumbled, looking down at the Eevee. Jay had fallen asleep in his arms, snuggled up against his hoodie and tail twitching occasionally.

"Maybe I don't say this enough," N said quietly so not to wake the sleeping creature. "But I'm proud of you, Ryan. You've looked after Eevee and he's growing up healthily. And has plenty of energy, if Zoroark's attitude towards him is anything to go by." He laughed slightly.

"I… thanks," Ryan replied, slightly bewildered. When he'd seen N here he'd expected him to start lecturing him about letting the Eevee onto the school grounds or not 'respecting' Pokémon. And that was why, at the praising, he couldn't help but smile.

"You act like I never say nice things to you," N teased. His joking look quickly faded. "Although, on a more serious note… Ryan, you really do care about Pokémon, don't you?"

"Of course!" Ryan nodded, keeping his voice low as the Eevee's ears twitched in his sleep.

His father was silent for a moment, looking thoughtful about something as he watched the sleeping Pokémon. His gaze returned to the boy. "Then maybe… maybe I'll consider letting you go on your journey. Despite what happened earlier, I know you'll look after your Pokémon well."

"Really!?" Ryan gasped, eyes flying wide in surprise and excitement.

"_Maybe_," N repeated with emphasis. "So don't do anything that's going to make me change my mind, okay?"

Ryan nodded determinedly. Trying to keep to his best behaviour for a while might be difficult, but it would be worth it if he could finally leave on a journey of his own!


	6. A New Adventure

**They grow up so fast. Also N appears to have been demoted to random person who heals your Pokémon for you.**

**So far I'm still just uploading the chapters when I finish them, but for some reason I seem to usually finish them on Wednesdays? O_o**

* * *

Much to what he'd expected, when Ryan returned to the house that day, he'd been sent back to his room and told not to escape out the window again. This time he'd actually suffered through the boredom of his punishment, despite Jay soon waking up from his nap and going over to sit on the window sill once more. Once Ryan had explained to the Eevee his reason for not leaving the room this time, the Pokémon had nearly fallen out of the window in excitement. Jay wanted to travel too.

Most of the rest of the week had been spent at the library. He'd managed to persuade Touko to take him there, studying everything he could about Pokémon and battling whilst there wasn't really much else he could do. She'd seemed quite amused at his enthusiasm, especially when he kept bugging her about her own experiences from years ago, when she'd been on a journey for herself.

The thing that had become most apparent to him so far was that leaving on a journey was mainly to help people decide what they wanted to do. There were many different paths people could take, from becoming Pokémon breeders to Rangers to scientists. Yet what Ryan wanted to do was take the challenge most trainers started at first; collecting eight badges and heading for the Pokémon League. That was the challenge most of the kids at school talked about, and though many people had left with that goal in mind, apparently it was difficult to actually reach. Still, even if he couldn't make it to the Pokémon League, he'd meet a lot of people. Surely he'd get some idea of what exactly he wanted to do just from seeing what was out there.

And finally, after almost a week of studying, he'd asked his father whether he'd made a decision. And the answer had been yes.

Yes, he was finally allowed to go.

The following Monday, Ryan had a skip in his step as he made the short journey to school. Jay hopped along beside him as usual.

"Are we going yet? On a journey? When are we going?" the Eevee asked excitedly.

"Not long now, Jay," Ryan smiled. "I take it you're coming with me?"

"Of course!" Jay chirped, tail flicking back and forth excitedly. "I wanna see what the world looks like! I bet it's loads more interesting than the forest!"

"I'm sure it is." Ryan glanced up to see the school gate ahead. "Okay, Jay, no sneaking into the school grounds today, okay? If you want berries later you'll have to find them in the forest."

"Aww," the Eevee whined, ears and tail drooping. "Why?"

"Because I can't risk getting into any more trouble," he muttered. Reaching down to pet the Eevee, Ryan smiled. "I'll be home in a couple hours, okay?"

"Okay," Jay nodded, turning and racing away into the trees. Hopefully this time he'd actually listen to what he said and stay away from the school.

It wasn't long after entering the grounds that a voice spoke up.

"Hey, Harmonia's back! I see you don't have that dangerous creature with you anymore."

"Sorry, Liam, no time to talk!" Ryan said simply as he ran past, leaving the younger boy looking slightly miffed.

He raced into the school building, slowing his pace hurriedly as a passing teacher recited "no running in the corridors!" It didn't take long for him to navigate the hallways, eventually bursting through the doorway to the almost empty classroom.

Summer looked up in alarm from taking the Braille book out of her bag. "Wha—who's there!?"

"Only me," Ryan beamed even though she couldn't see him. "I got some great news!"

The girl looked significantly less worried once she realised who he was. "Oh, Ryan, it's you. And does this great news really require nearly giving me a heart attack?"

"Sorry," he apologised sheepishly, walking over and dumping his bag under the desk.

"So, what's the news?" Summer asked, carefully laying her book on the table before doing the same – although less violently.

"Oh, right!" Ryan said cheerily. "Dad's finally gonna let me become a trainer! I can go on a journey at last!"

"Really?" Summer exclaimed. After a few seconds, her expression changed; more one of sadness than excitement. "Yeah… that's great! I'm happy for you…"

Noticing the obvious change in mood, Ryan frowned slightly. "What's wrong…?"

"Nothing… it's just, you're leaving…"

_Oh. _Now he understood. With all the other kids their age having left by now, Ryan had been pretty much Summer's only friend… and now he was leaving too. This was one side he hadn't thought of before; the fact that he was going to be leaving people behind. There were some people he'd be glad to be rid of – the most obvious of which being Liam – but Summer definitely wasn't one of them.

"Well… at least Liam will stop bugging you because of me now," Ryan shrugged half-heartedly. When Summer's response was little more than a quiet sigh, he spoke again. "Hang on. Stay there for a moment."

"What? Why?" she blinked.

Without a word, Ryan skirted around the desk so that he was standing in front of her. The sightless girl still looked rather confused as she followed the sound of his footsteps. "What are you—"

She broke off as he pulled her into a hug.

"I'll come back. Promise."

For a brief moment, Summer seemed too stunned to answer. It was a couple of seconds before she finally hugged him back. "Yeah. Okay. Doubt I'll be going anywhere."

* * *

"Ow! Mum, you're pulling my hair—!"

"Oh, shush," Touko sighed, running the brush through the section of hair a few more times now that the knot was gone. "If you brushed your hair more often, you wouldn't be having this problem!"

Ryan just huffed, folding his arms sulkily and grunting as the brush caught on his hair once more. "Could have just let me go… not as if it matters…"

"Ryan, you're going to be meeting a lot of new people when you're travelling. The least you can do is try to keep up your appearance."

"Right, and brushing my hair makes a _huge_ difference."

"He's got a point," N added from where he was standing in the doorway. "Doesn't really look much different than before."

"You can talk," Touko said meaningfully. "I don't even know when the last time was _you_ brushed your hair, N. By now you'd probably break a hairbrush just trying to."

"Hey!"

"If you don't think so, then maybe we can try and untangle it later."

N grimaced. "I'm fine, thanks." As if he thought Touko was going to go through with the offer right then, he disappeared.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Typical. Anyway, Ryan, you'll feel better if your hair is brushed. It's not just an appearance thing."

"If you say so," he mumbled, itching to go already. He knew he should have tried to make a run for it when his mother came into his room with a hairbrush in hand.

What seemed like an age later, but was probably only five minutes, Touko stood back with a smile. "There you go. Done."

"Finally!" Ryan cheered, jumping off the side of the bed.

"But," Touko continued, holding out the hairbrush. "Take this with you. You may need it."

With a sigh, Ryan took the brush from her, chucking it into his bag which lay open on the floor. "Fine…"

"You have everything else you need, right?" she checked. "Map? Spare clothes? Toothbrush?"

"Yep, yep and yep," he nodded.

"What about your trainer card?"

"Here," he briefly took the card out of his pocket to show her before putting it back.

"Make sure you keep it safe. Have you had a shower this morning?"

"Mmhmm."

"Breakfast?"

"Yes, Mum, I have. Can I go yet?"

"No need to be in such a hurry! Do you even know where you're going?"

"The gym in town," Ryan nodded. "You said I should go there first."

"Right. Since it's outside the regions, the badge they give there is registered in all of them, and so it'll count towards the eight needed for the Unova league," Touko explained. "You might want to battle a couple of trainers beforehand, just so you can get used to being a trainer. And remember that N will gladly heal your Pokémon for you if they get tired, okay?"

"I think 'gladly' might be an overstatement," Ryan muttered. "Okay!"

"And make sure you come back here before leaving for Unova," Touko reminded with a half-hearted smile. "You can't leave without saying goodbye."

"I'll come back, don't worry," he assured. "Can I go now?"

With a quiet laugh at his impatience, Touko gave a nod. "Yes, you can go now. Just be careful out there."

* * *

When Ryan opened the front door, the Eevee was already sat on the front step waiting for him, tail flicking back and forth and ears twitching excitedly.

"Are we going now? Are we?" Jay asked, hopping up and down.

"Sort of!" Ryan grinned. "I mean, we're heading for the first gym which is in town, but after that all we have to do is go say bye to everyone and then we can head for Unova!"

"Unova?" Jay exclaimed, eyes widening. "You mean the place to the south? Where some of the Pokémon from the forest are from?"

"Mmhmm," the boy nodded. He started to walk along the path, the Eevee hurriedly padding after him. "Anyway, Mum said we should probably see if we can find any trainers around town. Gyms are supposed to be pretty tough, so training by having battles is gonna make you stronger."

"Yes! I get to battle finally!" Jay cheered. "Battling Zoroark is no fun. He's too strong. My attacks hardly do anything!"

"Well, hopefully the trainers around here won't have Pokémon as strong as Zoroark," Ryan shrugged. "What moves do you know?"

"Tackle!" Jay chirped. He ran forward quickly to stand In front of him. "Oh, oh, and quick attack! And sand attack!" He kicked up a small cloud of dust from the path.

"And I guess you've proven you can use bite, too," Ryan added wryly.

"Yup! But there's all sorts of cool moves, right? I wanna learn loads!"

"Well, you can only learn four at a time," Ryan explained. "Once you learn new moves, it'll be difficult to use the ones you learnt before as well as the new ones, because you won't be able to practice as much."

"Aww," Jay sighed. "Then… then I'll just get really good at the moves I need to use! Yeah!"

"Exactly," he smiled. "So I guess for now we might as well wander around town and see if there are any trainers around."

"Ooh! I've never been into the town before!"

"That's because there are a lot of people there. I don't think the wild Pokémon in the forest like going here. But there are other Pokémon here too; they just have trainers. Just don't run off, Jay. If you get lost while we're travelling it'll be even more difficult to find you than when we're playing hide and seek in the forest."

"That must be difficult. You can hardly ever find me," Jay pointed out innocently.

Ryan just rolled his eyes. "C'mon. Let's go."

It seemed like the perfect day to start travelling; the sun was shining down from the sky above, warming the air, but a cooling breeze whispered through the trees, meaning it wasn't too hot. A couple of clouds lingered in the sky, but they were white and fluffy like a swablu's wings, showing no sign of bad weather to follow up the storm they'd had last week. Morning dew still glistened on the leaves and grass at the side of the path, marking the start of autumn.

They headed along the path at the edge of the forest at first. Before long, the concrete road adjacent to it came into view, marking the way into the main part of town. Jay seemed rather overexcited as he stepped onto the tarmac, hopping up and down excitedly to feel the ground underneath his paws. Once he realised Ryan was standing a few metres ahead waiting for him, he scurried over to catch up.

Ryan wasn't exactly streetwise when it came to the town; he may have spent a lot of time outside, though that was mainly in the forest, and the only times he'd actually been into the centre of town were for school trips or if his parents had taken him there to go shopping. But he knew that the Pokémon gym was along a street to the west of the clock tower, and he could see the face of it from here, so they shouldn't get lost.

"Hey! Hey you, with the Eevee!"

"Huh?" Ryan glanced around at the shout. There was a boy, maybe his age or slightly younger, standing at the side of the path, though upon calling out he raced over. An orange cap sat slanted on his head.

"Is that your Pokémon? Are you a Pokémon trainer?"

"Mmhmm!" Ryan nodded with a smile. "I mean, I'm not very experienced yet, but—"

"Great! Me too!" the boy cheered, taking a Poké ball from his belt. "Our eyes have met! I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

"A battle! A battle!" Jay chirped.

Deciding not to mention that not every trainer abided to the 'eyes meeting' rule, Ryan just nodded. They needed to train, after all. And this was the first person to challenge him to a battle. What was he to turn them down? "Okay. Challenge accepted!"


	7. Facing Challenges

**Welcome to a game of 'guess the type of the gym before it's actually announced what type it is'. The prize is you get to feel good about correctly guessing once you read the sentence. 8D**

**Still no particular update schedule, but I'd just like to say that I will not be including any gen 6 Pokémon/moves/whateverelse in this. This story likely won't be finished before October, but it's based on the gen 5 games so that's what I'm sticking with. We cool? We cool.**

**And now we have BATTLES. Which in this... will probably work more like in the anime. Trying to put Pokémon game mechanics into real life is difficult. :I**

**Also I swear there's been a Youngster Joey in like every main Pokémon game I've played.**

* * *

At the challenge, Jay hopped forward to stand in front of Ryan, attempting to give a fierce growl although the attempt was thwarted by the excited squeak he let out. This was their first battle, and the Eevee was determined to win.

"Okay!" the other boy shouted. "By the way, my name's Joey!"

"Ryan," he shrugged.

"Right. Now then!" Joey pressed the button on the Poké ball. "Go, Patrat!"

The Patrat landed lightly on the tarmac, glancing around briefly with a twitching tail. Then it grinned, ringed eyes coming to rest on the other normal-type Pokémon. "An opponent!"

"Yes, I'm your opponent!" Jay cheered, jumping forward.

"Jay!" Ryan said hurriedly. "You have to wait for me to tell you what move to use first!"

The Eevee skidded to a halt. "Oh! Okay!"

"Okay. Then… use quick attack!"

Ears twitching with excitement over finally being able to battle, Jay zipped forwards towards the Patrat. It barely even got a chance to blink before the Eevee crashed into it and it was sent flying backwards, landing by its owner's feet.

"Wow, your Eevee is fast…!" Joey exclaimed. "Patrat! Use tackle!"

"Ryan, I did it!" Jay chirped proudly, padding back over to him. "I hit it—"

His sentence was cut off as the Patrat slammed into his side. Jay yelped as the force threw him across the ground, coming to land in a heap of fur.

"Jay!"

His worry was short-lived, however. The Eevee quickly jumped back to his paws, shaking the grit from his fur. "I'm okay!"

Ryan let out a faint sigh of relief. "Okay. Use quick attack again."

Repeating the move from before seemed almost effortless to the Eevee. The Patrat had seen the attack coming but couldn't beat the speed of it to react before getting hit.

A moment later, it was collapsed in front of its trainer once more. Only this time, it was defeated.

"Patrat!" Joey cried. With an indignant huff, he sent the small normal-type back to its Poké ball. Then he turned to look at Ryan and grinned. "Wow, your Eevee is strong! Now I need to go get Patrat to the Pokémon centre… see ya!"

As he raced away, Poké ball in hand, Ryan and Jay were left watching after him, looking somewhat dumbfounded. There was a long silence.

"Well… that was certainly an interesting first battle," Ryan commented eventually, shifting his fringe out of his face after standing there for too long had caused the breeze to push it around.

"Is the Patrat okay?" Jay asked, glancing up at him with wide eyes.

"He will be," Ryan shrugged. "Fainted Pokémon wake up before long; they just won't be able to battle until they've rested. That's why he's taken it to the Pokémon centre."

"Oh." The Eevee's ears twitched slightly. "So… did I win?"

Ryan couldn't help but smile slightly at how oblivious the normal-type could be sometimes. "Yes, Jay. You won."

"I did? I did! I won! I won!" Jay cheered, hopping around excitedly. "I told Zoroark I was strong!"

"That Patrat didn't hurt you too badly, did it?" he checked. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"I guess," the Eevee shrugged, tail flicking arrogantly. "But it gets better pretty quick! If anyone else challenges us to a battle I can beat them too!"

"I'll take that as meaning we can keep heading for the gym," Ryan said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Mmhmm!" Jay chirped, running over to jump up, climbing his arm until he could sit on Ryan's shoulder. "Gym battle!"

"I see you can't walk there on your own then."

"But I was just in a _battle_!" he huffed. "Battles are tiring!"

Ryan simply rolled his eyes. "Fine, you can stay there. For five minutes. You're heavier than you look."

Jay just gave another quiet huff at the comment, settling on Ryan's shoulder as the two of them headed along the path once more, looking for the gym and any challengers they might meet along the way.

* * *

It was right on the dot of the hour, the clock chiming from the centre of town, when the building finally loomed up ahead. Compared to the rest of the houses and shops nearby, the gym looked rather fancy – and also slightly unnerving as well.

"Don't those human buildings usually have… y'know… those holes in the wall you can see through?" Jay asked observantly.

"Usually," Ryan muttered, noting the gym's distinct lack of windows. Even though the door was open, all he could see inside was the strip of light the sunlight created.

The gym was a very modern-like building, painted in black and purple on the outside. The slanted walls and curves at the side of the roof, almost like horns, made the building seem even more unusual.

"This place looks funny," Jay spoke up at last.

"This is the gym," Ryan reminded him. "Or at least, I think it is. The sign says so, anyway." He glanced at the plaque outside the building once more, just to check.

_Greenway City Pokémon Gym_

_Gym Leader: Ebony_

_"The Shadowed Heart"_

"This is a gym?" Jay asked, ears perking. "You mean, like where you get to battle and stuff?"

"We've had plenty of battles on the way here, and you're still excited?" Ryan couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"Of course! Because this is special battles!"

He shrugged. "Fair enough. I guess we'd better go inside."

The Eevee hopped onto his shoulder once more as he made his way towards the open door of the gym. They'd battled a couple more trainers on the way here without much trouble – their Pokémon had mainly been Lillipups and Patrats, and the Eevee had managed to overpower them. By now his fur was a little ruffled, but he didn't have any injuries from the previous battles, so for now he was okay to keep going.

Even from the doorway, most of the gym looked pitch black. For a brief moment Ryan wondered if it was even open. As he stepped inside, he glanced around curiously. "Hello…?"

As soon as he spoke, the door slammed shut behind them, leaving the pair in total darkness.

_Ack… I can't see a thing! _Ryan glanced around, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness but it was taking a lot longer than he expected. What were they supposed to do? He didn't dare try and move around in the lack of light just in case there was anything – or anyone – around him.

"It's dark…" Jay whimpered quietly, stating the obvious.

"Why, hello there!"

Both the boy and the Eevee nearly jumped out of their skin at the sudden call and a light appearing nearby. The light of a torch held under someone's face, illuminating their features, causing an eerie over-exaggerated smirk to appear on their face as well as make their eyes disappear in the shadows. Jay let out a terrified yelp, nearly losing his balance on Ryan's shoulder and hurriedly scrambling over to try and bury his face in the boy's hair.

For a moment the eerie face remained, and Ryan couldn't help but take a step back. This was… _creepy_…

Then the light moved around slightly, revealing a middle-aged man with a smile on his face. "Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't mean to scare you." There was a quiet clicking sound, like a button being pressed, and a red-tinted light appeared above, illuminating a small circle around where they were standing. After being in total darkness the light was almost harsh despite the fact that it wasn't very intense. "Welcome to the Greenway City Dark-type Pokémon Gym!"

"Um… thank you…" Ryan muttered, still slightly miffed. The door to the gym opened once more, although besides the strip of light and the circle surrounding them it was still impossible to see anything in the rest of the gym. Jay curiously brought his face back out from the Ryan's hair to glance around now that the creepy face had vanished.

"First of all, I am the gym guide here! Is this your first gym challenge?"

Ryan nodded.

"In that case…" the man walked off into the darkness for a moment, returning a moment later carrying a rather flat blue-and-black box. "I'm assuming you do not yet have one of these?"

"What is it?" Ryan questioned, glancing at the box before looking back at the guy once more.

"It's a badge case! This is where you keep all of the gym badges you win from Pokémon Gyms." He handed the case to Ryan, along with a bottle. "Also, take this fresh water. I'm sure it will come in handy during your battles!"

"Thanks…!" Ryan smiled, taking the items, putting the case inside his bag and putting the bottle of water in one of the pockets at the side.

"As the guide, I suppose I should explain how this gym works," the man continued. "As this is the dark-type gym, everything in here is rather… dark." He laughed slightly at the terrible pun. "But don't worry; there isn't an awful lot to trip over in here. The gym trainers are all nearby. That way," he pointed in the direction of the back of the gym. "And when they see you, they'll switch one of the lights on before your battle."

"When they _see_ me?" Ryan blinked. How could anyone see anything in this utter darkness?

The gym guide just winked. "You'll see. Both literally and non-literally speaking. Good luck!"

And with that, the guide vanished into the darkness of the gym.

There was a long silence. Ryan and Jay exchanged a glance.

"This place is creepy," the Eevee muttered eventually. "Are all gyms like this?"

"Not that I know of. C'mon, let's keep going…" Quite frankly, the sooner they got this gym battle over and done with, the better. This place was a lot creepier than he expected it to be.

Yet again his eyes refused to adjust to the darkness as they left the tinted spotlight. It was almost like being blind; Ryan couldn't see where he was going at all and he found himself walking incredibly slowly as he tried to make sure he didn't trip over anything. He couldn't even tell how far he'd come from the entrance of the gym without looking back, the circle of light the only thing visible in the entire area. Every now and then Jay would press closer to him, as if trying to reassure himself that the trainer was still there.

It wasn't all that long before suddenly another red-tinted light suddenly clicked on above. After the darkness, Ryan had to hold a hand up to shield his eyes from the light.

"Aha! A challenger!"

He glanced around at the voice, trying to work out where it had come from. It was impossible to tell until a girl walked into the circle of light. She was wearing dark-coloured clothes, but the most notable thing about her was the strange thing she was wearing on her face. Like some kind of goggles. A Purrloin sat on her shoulder.

"You're going to have to beat us first if you want to challenge the gym leader," the girl stated, taking off the odd-looking accessory. Noticing Ryan watching it curiously, she smiled. "Night-vision goggles. Helps in a place as dark as this."

"Oh," he blinked. "Right."

The Purrloin jumped down from her shoulder, sitting calmly within the circle of light and licking a paw to run over its ears, tail snaking back and forth.

"Ready, Jay?" Ryan checked.

"Mmhmm!" the Eevee chirped, jumping to the ground as well, taking a moment to paw at the square tiles on the floor before taking up a battle position, ears twitching excitedly.

"Okay then. Use quick attack!"

The Purrloin seemed too intent on grooming itself to notice the fast attack coming. With a yelp of surprise it was bowled over. It quickly climbed back to its paws with a huff, twitching an ear.

"Purrloin, use growl!"

Tail flicking to let its trainer know it had received the command, Purrloin calmly sat back on the tiles, letting out a quiet growl, putting on an innocent expression as it looked to the Eevee.

"Huh…?" Jay blinked, looking very confused as he tipped his head to one side.

_It's trying to lower his attack… _"Don't worry about it, Jay, just use quick attack again!"

"Okay…" the Eevee muttered, still seeming unsure. Even so, he shot forward again. The attack wasn't nearly as powerful this time, but it was enough to throw the cat Pokémon over. As it fell to the ground it attempted to get back up, but it was definitely defeated.

"Return," the trainer called, sending the Purrloin back to its Poké ball with a flash of light, made brighter than usual by the darkness of the room. Once that was done, she smiled at the boy. "You're a pretty strong trainer already. You might just stand a chance against the gym leader."

"Thanks… why, is she tough?" He had to question after that warning.

"She's a gym leader; she has to be!" the trainer laughed. "It might be a tough battle without fighting- or bug-type Pokémon, but your Eevee seems pretty strong. Oh, and the gym leader is that way." She pointed off into the darkness.

"Okay. Thank you!" Ryan nodded. _I don't get special goggles or anything then. Shame._


	8. The Shadowed Heart

**Wow, sorry this chapter is so late o_o But, well, gym battles are... surprisingly a lot more tedius to write than I first thought... especially when the Pokémon barely know any moves erghs**

**I guess in this story battles in general will be a bit more like the anime than the games? Because otherwise it's just move, attack, move, attack... I'm gonna have to work out how this is gonna work along with a lot of other things hmmm**

* * *

A line of crimson spotlights marked the path ahead. They'd appeared after defeating the next trainer – a guy with another two Purrloins – and now a small set of stairs at the far end of the gym were visible, leading the way into more darkness above. That must be where the gym leader was. Even so, it seemed strangely foreboding, red carpet covering the stairs and a dreary-looking welcome mat thrown at the bottom as if as a bad joke.

By now, Jay was starting to look tired. It probably would have been harder to tell if it wasn't for the fact that the Eevee was flopped over his shoulder, panting slightly as he tried to get his breath back after all the battles lately.

"You wanna stop for a rest, Jay?" Ryan questioned, halting in the path of light.

"No, I can… keep fighting…" the Eevee replied somewhat breathlessly.

Ryan just rolled his eyes, picking up the small Pokémon to lift him off his shoulder, placing him on the ground instead. "I don't think it's a good idea to try and fight the gym leader when you're worn out. Their Pokémon are well-known for being really strong." He reached back to take the bottle from the side of his bag. "Want some water?"

"Mmhmm," Jay nodded slowly, ears perking a smidgen as he sat down on the tiles.

"Well, I don't have a bowl or anything, so…" Ryan muttered mainly to himself, glancing at the bottle of water for a moment before shrugging and opening the cap. "Okay, just try not to spill any. We might get in trouble for that."

Jay blinked curiously as Ryan set the bottle on the ground, sniffing it for a moment before nearly climbing on top of the thing to reach the water inside. Ryan found that he had to keep a hold of it just so it didn't tip over. It seemed the Pokémon was really thirsty, and it wasn't until the bottle was half empty that Jay finally sat back, licking stray drops of water from the fur around his mouth.

Returning the bottle to his bag, Ryan stood back up, glancing at the stairs ahead. "Okay. You ready?"

"Yeah!" Jay gave a little skip, hopping into a battle position for the challenge ahead. A moment later his ears twitched, and he jumped back up onto Ryan's shoulder instead. The boy just rolled his eyes. For a Pokémon that seemed to always have boundless energy, Jay could sure be lazy…

He headed along the path of light, taking the stairs cautiously as his shadow blotted them out in front of him. There weren't that many steps, maybe ten or so, but tripping would still be painful. That was probably why they actually lit the path this time rather than expecting him to navigate the darkness.

Once he reached the top of the staircase, another light flickered on above, illuminating the arena. Ryan took another step forward, wondering what he was supposed to do now. Where was the gym leader…?

His question was answered soon enough. A figure stepped into the light up ahead. A woman with waist-length hair, pitch black. An almost Gothitelle-style dress narrowly avoided dragging on the ground as she walked. Showing that she was in fact a gym leader, she carried a Poké ball in one black-gloved hand. Her attire was definitely fitting for a dark-type leader.

"So, you are the latest challenger, correct?" Despite the question, she didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "I am Ebony. Commander of dark-type Pokémon from the shadows."

_Well, that's not hard to believe, _Ryan thought to himself, casting a split-second glance around at the room's darkness.

"And who might you be?"

"Uh… my name's Ryan," he stated. "This is my first gym battle…"

"Your first gym battle, huh?" she muttered, walking over to him. He resisted the urge to take a step back knowing the stairs were behind him. However, her inspecting glare suddenly grew lighter, eyes gleaming as she noticed the Pokémon on his shoulder. "An Eevee! You have an Eevee! Oh, it's so adorable!"

Ryan couldn't help but blink in surprise. Well. So much for 'the shadowed heart'. Jay let out a happy chirp as the gym leader reached out a hand to pet his ears.

"Um…" What was he supposed to say….?

"Hmm? Oh, right. Gym battle. Sorry." Ebony took a step back, brushing the hair from her face sheepishly. Walking back over to her side of the arena, she flashed a smile. "Don't worry. Most of the challengers we get here are undergoing their first gym challenge. That doesn't mean I go easy on them, though."

"That's fine," Ryan shrugged modestly. It wouldn't mean anything if the battle was made easier for him. Picking up on the atmosphere, Jay jumped to the ground, almost seeming surprised at the feel of the carpet under his paws.

"In that case, let the battle begin." Ebony held out the Poké ball, enlarging it to its original size before pressing the button on the capsule. "Angel!"

The flash of red light caused by the Pokémon being released was harsh against the darkness of the room. As he waited for it to fade, Ryan wondered what kind it would be. It was going to be at least half dark-type, he knew that much…

A moment later, the light vanished. The Pokémon stepped forwards to inspect the opposition through narrowed eyes, long tail waving back and forth.

_A Liepard!_

The cat-like Pokémon padded calmly around Jay. The Eevee stepped away, a quiet growl rising in his throat. At the smaller Pokémon's hostility, Angel huffed and instead turned to inspect the trainer.

"Hello there. Do you have anything shiny or valuable?" The cat's eyes gleamed slightly.

"Angel, what have I told you about pestering the challengers?" Ebony sighed. "It's time for a battle!"

At her trainer's words, Angel padded back over to their own side of the arena. She cast a glance back anyway, letting out a quiet purr. "Well, if you do, I will know soon enough."

Ryan couldn't help but smile slightly. He'd heard that Liepard were interested in valuables, and it seemed that was right.

Alright then, time to get this battle started. "Jay, use tackle."

"Angel; fake out!"

As Jay ran towards her, the Liepard hopped forwards, clapping her paws together just inches from his face. The Eevee let out a surprised peep, skidding to a halt before scrambling backwards and looking highly confused as to what had just happened.

After the initial squeal she let out about how 'adorable' the Eevee was, Ebony gained a slight smirk. "Okay now, Angel. Use scratch!"

Still slightly dazed from the previous move, Jay didn't stand a chance at evading. A loud wail split through the air, echoing around the room, as the cat's claws slashed across the Eevee's side. He was thrown back across the arena, flopping to the ground in a mess of fur.

"Jay!"

For a moment, it looked like the normal-type had been defeated. And yet he managed to climb back to his paws.

"That was _mean_!" he wailed, glaring at the Liepard with a huff. She simply flicked her tail.

Ryan rolled his eyes, letting out a quiet sigh of relief even so. At least they wouldn't be able to pull that trick again. Fake out would only work when used as a first move. Still, battling a gym leader was a lot tougher than he'd expected. And to add to that, Ebony most likely had more than one Pokémon too…

"Okay then, Jay… use quick attack."

The new injury not hampering his speed, Jay zipped forwards to crash into the Liepard's side. The cat Pokémon was too big for him to knock over, but the attack still did a decent amount of damage. As Angel was forced backwards with an irritated hiss, Jay hopped away before he could get swatted by her paw.

"Angel, use payback!"

_No! _That move would be extremely powerful after the Liepard had just been hit. The second he saw the cat's eyes glowing slightly, he knew they were going to have to do something.

"Jay, sand attack!"

Ears twitching, Jay turned and scraped the ground with his hind paws. There may not have been any actual sand on the floor, but there was still dust, and the move caused a cloud of it to form, blotting out the Liepard's view. Realising Angel was going to attack him, Jay hurriedly scrambled away. The attack hitting the ground stirred up even more dust and the cat growled, trying to look around but having difficulty seeing past the dust illuminated by the lights.

"Now, use tackle!"

At the call, Jay nodded and raced towards the Liepard, jumping so that the focus of his attack was the cat's head. The dust swirled around, blotting out the view. A shriek from Angel told him the attack had hit. Yet he couldn't see what had happened to Jay.

A moment later some of the dust parted slightly, the Eevee racing out to skip over to him. The Liepard, on the other hand, had fallen to the ground, defeated.

"Oh, Angel!" Ebony gasped, sending the tired cat back to her Poké ball.

"I did it! I did it!" Jay cheered, hopping around excitedly.

"Yes, you did," Ryan smiled, reaching down to pet the Eevee's head. He squeaked happily at the attention.

"The battle is not over yet!" Ebony stated, taking another Poké ball from her sleeve. "You may have defeated Angel, but is your Eevee strong enough to challenge Albion?"

_Albion…? _The echo of the name was the entering call as Ebony tossed the Poké ball into the air. A flash of red light, a fluttering of wings, and the Pokémon landed elegantly in the ring of light.

"Good day, young one. I presume you must have been the one to defeat Angel?"

_It's a Honchkrow! I've never seen one of them in real life before…!_

"I am! I am!" Jay nodded, hopping forward.

Albion's eyes gleamed with amusement for a second. "Well, child, I doubt you will be able to beat me as well."

The Honchkrow was strong, he could tell. Yet still, he was confident Jay would be able to win this fight. They'd just have to actually get this battle started. "Jay, use quick attack!"

The fast hit landed its target, sending the bird reeling back with a surprised squawk. He took off into the air, although probably not flying higher than Jay was capable of jumping. Albion puffed out his chest feathers, as if that were to make him more intimidating. The Eevee attempted to do the same but ended up more like turning into a ball of fluff.

Ebony let out a quiet squeal before setting her attention back to the actual battle rather than the 'cute' Pokémon. "Now, Albion! Pursuit!"

Giving a small salute from the air, the Honchkrow dived forwards. Seeing the attack coming, Jay tried to run but wasn't fast enough, and soon the large bird had him trapped under his talons.

"Lemme go! Lemme go!" the Eevee wailed, flailing as he tried to escape. It was no good. He was trapped.

"Jay!" Ryan cried. _Oh Arceus, what can we do? _Jay wouldn't be able to attack while he was trapped like that, and sand attack wouldn't do anything when the bird had already got him pinned…

Wait. Maybe there _was_ something he could do.

"Jay, you gotta escape! Use bite!"

The attack wouldn't be that effective against a dark-type, he knew. But right now it was probably the only way the Eevee could escape. Writhing around under the bird's talons, Jay finally managed to move so he could sink his teeth into Albion's leg. The Honchkrow let out a screech, letting go of the normal-type immediately and scrambling back.

"Now, use tackle!"

"Albion, wing attack!"

The bird ruffled his feathers slightly, readying his wings as he prepared to jump back into the air once more. Yet before he got the chance to attack, the Eevee crashed into him, throwing him back across the arena. Once he landed, he tried to get back up, but only succeeded in falling back again, winded.

"Very well… you have won, child."

"Yay!" Jay cheered, overly happy as usual despite the serious battle. He skipped back over to Ryan, hopping up onto his hind legs to rest his paws on the boy's knee. "I won, I won!"

"Yes!" Ryan laughed, picking up the small creature to hug him. "I think…"

Ebony flashed him a light smile. "Yes, you've defeated all of my Pokémon. Well done." She held out an arm for Albion, who managed to summon the energy to fly up to perch on her shoulder, still looking tired from the battle as he settled. "Considering this was your first gym battle, I think you did really well! I'm assuming the guide gave you a badge case when you got here?"

Ryan nodded, putting the Eevee back down so he could retrieve the case from his bag. By the time he'd done so, Ebony had vanished.

"Huh…?"

A moment later, the lights flickered on in the gym. They were dim compared to the spotlights, but it now meant they could see the whole room. The gym wasn't as long as it had seemed trekking through the darkness, but there was definitely a lot of unused space.

"Here," Ebony spoke up, walking over to him once more. She held out one hand, something glinting in the light in contrast to her black gloves. It was a small piece of metal, shaped into something that looked a bit like an Absol's horn, yet was decorated with yellow circles and lines, almost like the markings of an Umbreon. "This is the Umbra badge; proof of your gym victory."

"Whoa…" Ryan's eyes widened slightly as he took the badge, placing it in the first slot of the case.

"And this too." The gym leader held a hand up to the Honchkrow on her shoulder, who was holding something in his beak. At the prompt, he placed it in Ebony's open hand. It looked like a disk of some sort. "This is TM66, Payback. It can be used to teach the move to a Pokémon."

"Wow, thank you!" Ryan smiled gratefully, taking the disk.

They'd done it. They'd defeated their first gym leader.

* * *

The sun was getting low in the sky by the time the boy and Eevee reached the forest path once more. Shadows of the trees stretched across the grass and the woods were alive with the sounds of Pokémon.

"That was fun!" Jay chirped happily, running circles around him. It was amazing he still had energy to spare after that battle. "Oh! Oh! Do I get to learn a new move? Like that one the lady gave you? The shiny one?"

"I don't think you _can_," Ryan pointed out evenly. As determined as the Eevee was, he wouldn't be able to learn payback. At Jay's somewhat downcast look, Ryan gave a friendly smile. "I'm sure you'll learn some new moves eventually."

"Ooh, really?" the Eevee's eyes lit up.

"Mmhmm," he nodded. "Maybe even more so after you evolve, though the kind of moves depends on what you evolve into."

Jay just let out an excited squeak, jumping on the spot a couple of times before scurrying after the boy so he didn't get left behind.

Ryan just smiled, looking back over at the path before them. Noticing a familiar figure up ahead, his pace quickened to a run, the Eevee racing after him to keep up. "Mum!"

"Hm? Oh, Ryan!" Touko waved as the two of them raced over. "I was just checking to make sure they actually remembered to empty our bins today. Anyway, did you find the gym?"

"More than just _found_ it!" He presented her with the badge case, showing the shiny pin inside.

"You got the gym badge!" Touko's eyes glinted with pride as she pulled him into a quick hug. "Well done!" Jay reached up to paw at her leg, clearly wanting some attention too, and she reached down with a smile to pet the Eevee's head. "Still, it's getting rather late. If you head off for Unova now it'll be dark before you get there. Why don't you stay here for one more night and head off tomorrow? I'm sure Jay could use a rest after that gym battle."

"Well…" Ryan cast a glance up at the orange-tinted sky. He really wanted to start off on his journey, but his mother was right too. Unova might not have been that far away but it wasn't right around the corner either, and even with Jay to protect him, travelling at night still sounded dangerous – and creepy, especially after having to walk through the pitch black in the gym. "Can Jay stay too? Please?"

At the request, the corners of Touko's mouth tugged at a frown. Glancing down at the puppy-dog eyes Jay was giving her, however, that frown soon turned into a half-hearted smile. "Okay, okay. But just this once. And I suppose I'll have to make that perfectly clear to N too." She rolled her eyes with a laugh.

"Yay!" Jay cheered, jumping into the boy's arms.

Ryan couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Mum!"

"Just don't make a mess, little guy," Touko warned, tapping the Eevee's nose. "Anyway, you'd better to get some rest. You've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow!"


	9. Farewell

**I name thee the chapter of hugs. I don't really have much else to say other than it took me like two days to proofread this. Distractions are distracting. :T**

**I really need to try and fit more into these chapters or there's just going to be so many of them...**

* * *

"… You're not going to make me brush my hair again, are you?"

Touko just rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Honestly, Ryan. Yes, but you can do it yourself. It'll only take a minute."

"Fine," he sighed, going to fetch the hairbrush from his bag before sitting back at the table to brush his hair, still looking at the map laid out before him. It was a map of Unova, showing all the cities and their biggest landmarks. And soon, they'd be heading here themselves…

"Studying the route?" Touko smiled, shifting the map across the table slightly – much to his annoyance – to lay a plate in front of him. Still, he wasn't complaining; he liked pancakes. "Want the opinion of someone who's travelled Unova?"

"Mmhmm," Ryan nodded absently, knowing better than to speak with his mouth full.

"Well, when you head out for Unova you'll have to cross the lake to the south. Look, you can just see the side of it here," she pointed to the very top of the map, then to an icon at the edge of the blue patch. "This is where the port is on the far side. Since you don't have a Pokémon with surf, you'll need to take the ferry. Once you've crossed the lake, just keep heading south and you should arrive at Route 9."

"Mkay." He watched the path she was pointing out; it wasn't that complicated, he could keep it memorised easily.

"There are a couple of places you should probably go though. It might be a bit of a hike, but if you head over to Nuvema Town you should go and see the professor there; she's the one who gave me my starter Pokémon, and she helps new trainers with the things they need too, so you should definitely go and see her."

"Nuvema Town? That's right at the bottom of the map!"

"I know, I know, but it's an important place!" Touko nodded. "You should go see Mum while you're there, too. She hasn't seen you in years."

"Eh, sure," he mumbled. The last time he'd seen his grandmother he'd probably been around six years old. Still, at least that meant he could just about remember where she lived.

"Also, if you're planning on challenging the gyms, you should go here too," she added, pointing to a place in the southwest. "Aspertia City. There are a lot of trainers who start their journeys from there, so the gym there shouldn't be too much of a challenge if you head for there first. Not to mention, the gym leader is a friend." Touko smiled. "You remember Cheren, right?"

"I think so…" Ryan tried to remember the name. He could vaguely remember who Cheren was.

"Okay. Well, now you know where to head first. Have you had enough to eat?" she asked, noting his now empty plate.

"Yup," Ryan nodded. He glanced over his shoulder to where Jay had been sat in the corner eating a bowl of Pokémon food. By now the Eevee was licking the empty bowl, trying to find any remaining traces of food. "I think Jay's finished too."

"You two eat so fast," Touko laughed, glancing at her own plate which was still full of pancakes. "Anyway, you can head off soon. Go see if you can get your father up, will you? You know N; he'll sleep for half the day otherwise, and he won't want to miss the start of your journey."

"Okay," Ryan shrugged, climbing down from the chair and wandering off in the direction of his parents' bedroom. Jay, in the meantime, had scampered over to hop onto the chair, watching Touko with hopeful eyes.

The woman just giggled, patting his head. "No, silly. You've had enough food already."

* * *

Sure enough, N was still asleep, almost hidden beneath the covers. Ryan walked over to the side of the bed and nudged his arm. "C'mon, Dad, get up."

N just moved his arm away. "Five more minutes…" His voiced was muffled as he buried his face deeper in the pillow.

"Da-ad, it's like…" he glanced over at the clock, "9AM."

"Too early…"

With an irritated huff, Ryan decided that there was only one way to try and get him up. He jumped up to flop on the bed, landing on his father. "Dad, get up!"

"_Oof_—ow! Ryan-! Gerroff…"

"No." He climbed over to sit on him instead. "I'm not waiting till midday to leave just because you're lazy!"

Letting out a tired groan, N tried to roll over and shove the boy off him, but with the weight on his back he wasn't able to do so and just let out a defeated sigh instead. "Too tired to get up…"

"_Dad_!"

Obviously anticipating his failed attempt, there was soon a call from the kitchen.

"N, if you don't get up soon you're going to miss breakfast!" Touko shouted. "Pancakes!"

At the mention of food, N lifted his head off the pillow at last. "Okay, okay, I'm up…"

Rolling his eyes, Ryan slid off the bed. "Well hurry up! I'm leaving soon!"

"Right…" N yawned loudly, sitting up at last and rubbing at his eyes. "If you're just waiting around, you could always go get some berries from the garden to take with you. They'll probably come in handy at some point."

"Okay," Ryan nodded. Picking berries wasn't exactly the most fun task, but it was certainly better than waiting around doing nothing.

* * *

"Jay, I know you're eating the berries. Stop it."

"Huh!?" the Eevee glanced up at him, eyes wide, hurriedly pushing a half-eaten oran berry behind him. "I… don't know what you mean!"

Ryan just tutted, going back to plucking a few pecha berries. They were a cure for poison, so it would probably be good to take a bunch with him. "You can finish that one, but no more. The berries here were planted to help Pokémon when they're ill or injured."

"Humph." Jay gave a quiet huff before eating the rest of the berry. "Fine…"

"Think we've got enough here," Ryan commented, closing up the small yet rather full bag. "Okay, let's get back inside. Dad's probably up by now. Probably."

The two of them headed back around the side of the house to the front door, Jay still trying to lick the traces of berry from his fur. It was surprising sometimes quite how much that Eevee could eat. By the time they got back inside, N was finally up and dressed, attempting to finish off a plate of pancakes while fighting off Touko who was trying to flatten down his scruffy green hair.

"Touko, Ryan's back now. He's the one who's heading out, not me! Go and pester him instead if you're that intent on being a hairdresser," N rolled his eyes slightly.

"No thank you," Ryan said loudly as he went over to put the sachet of berries in his bag, making sure they wouldn't get crushed by anything. Jay still looked disappointed.

"Ryan is mature enough to brush his own hair, unlike _some_ people," Touko tutted, trying to shift his fringe from his face and getting a grumble of protest in response.

"With you insisting he did, I'm sure."

"Pretty much," Ryan added.

"Honestly, you two," Touko sighed. Deciding to let it slide, she glanced over at Ryan instead. "Anyway, with your impatience I guess you want to head off soon. Have you got everything you need?"

"Yeah." He rummaged through his bag for a moment to check. "I got everything."

"What about a hair band? Might be worth taking one of them."

"… Really? Mum, you're obsessed with appearances…"

"It's not about _appearances_," she tutted. "But you might need to tie your hair back. Especially if it gets warm or when you go through Route 4."

"Fine, fine…" Ryan grumbled, going to look for one in his room. Probably had one somewhere.

He returned a few minutes later, shoving the hair band into one of the pockets of his bag.

"Okay, now I got everything. Can I go now?"

Having realised he wasn't going to get any more food, Jay had curled up on N's lap instead, looking half asleep as he was petted. Yet at Ryan's words his ears twitched, immediately climbing back to his paws and hopping down to the ground to race over.

"You're in such a hurry to leave; are we really that terrible?" Touko joked with a half-hearted smile. "You'll be gone for quite some time…"

He would. That was right, and something he hadn't really thought too much about. He'd be leaving home, leaving the places and people he knew. And well, even if he found them to be annoying at times, he was really going to miss his parents. Enough that, even though it made him feel like a little kid, he could almost feel tears welling in his eyes…

The next thing he knew, he'd run over to his mother. Realising in time, Touko reached down to catch him in a hug.

"It's okay. We'll miss you too," she smiled, addressing what he hadn't wanted to say out loud. "And you have your Xtransciever, right? You can call us any time. We'll want to know how things are going." She released him from the embrace, brushing the fringe from his eyes with one hand and kissing his forehead. "You have a good time on your journey, okay? And don't do anything reckless."

"Yes, Mum," he nodded, irritably wiping away the kiss with his sleeve and earning a quiet laugh from his mother.

Seeming jealous of all the attention, Jay had skipped over to Touko as well, looking up at her with twitching ears. Noticing the Eevee, the woman smiled, reaching down to pet the small normal-type. "And you look after Ryan, okay? I don't want you two getting into any more trouble!"

"Yes! I'll look after him!" Jay squeaked proudly, furry chest puffing out and tail flicking from side to side.

Touko couldn't understand what he'd said, but she still laughed at the response. "Okay. I'm counting on you, little guy!"

The Eevee just stood even prouder.

Distracted by watching them, Ryan definitely hadn't expected something to suddenly hook under his arms. The next thing he knew, he was being lifted into the air.

"Wha—Dad, put me down—!" he protested hurriedly.

N just laughed. "You're a lot heavier than you were five years ago… okay, okay." He carefully lowered him back to the ground, realising he wouldn't be able to hold the weight of the 12-year-old for long.

Once he had his feet firmly back on the ground once more, Ryan was left looking up at his father for a moment. He still felt bad about shouting those words at him, even if that had been more than a week ago now. He really did like him as a father, wouldn't want anyone else, but he didn't know how to say that. So instead he simply held out his arms for a hug.

Blinking in surprise at the motion, N eventually gave a half-hearted smile. He had to nearly sit down because of the height difference, but he soon pulled him into an embrace. "You need to work on getting taller," he joked. "Look after yourself and your Pokémon out there. And if you see anyone who dares to mistreat their Pokémon—"

"N," Touko sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Well, you know what I mean," he laughed slightly as he stood back up. "Look out for your friends, okay? But well, like your mother said, don't do anything reckless…"

"I know, I know," Ryan mumbled, not wanting this to turn into a lecture. "I'll be careful."

"Remember to call, too," Touko added. "And make sure you go see your grandmother and Professor Juniper!"

He nodded, glancing over at Jay. The Eevee looked full of energy as always, tail twitching and hopping excitedly, ready to head off on an adventure.

"You become a great trainer, alright?" Touko smiled.

"I will!" he nodded determinedly. With that said, he headed for the door, Jay following quickly. They were soon faced with another clear-skied day, sunlight illuminating the grass and the forest beyond. "Bye!"

His parents' wishes of farewell were his leaving note as he headed along the path to the forest. He hesitated at the end of the path, glancing back briefly to give one final wave. Jay tried to imitate him, waving one paw, though the action proved to be a lot more difficult for the Eevee.

With one final long look back at his home, Ryan eventually turned and headed into the forest, Pokémon in tow.

_Unova, here we come!_


	10. Welcome to Unova

**Whoops another uber late update. Sorry guys. On the bright side, slightly longer chapter for once?**

**Also, new characters who may be of more importance later on yaaay.**

* * *

The first half of the forest was covered quickly with an excited run, although Ryan soon realised he was going to get worn out if he tried to get all the way to the docks at such a speed. Jay had boundless energy as usual, skipping around him excitedly even when his pace slowed to a walk.

"We're going on an adventure!" he chirped, running in circles.

"Finally!" Ryan grinned, picking up on the Eevee's excitement. "So don't make yourself dizzy just yet."

Hurriedly Jay stopped spinning, falling into step beside the trainer instead. As he trotted along, his ears twitched curiously. "Where are we going? Are there going to be more battles? Can I fight and get stronger?"

"Of course! And before long, we might be able to beat really strong trainers too!" He gave a fist pump to emphasise his words. "I mean, we might need to find some more Pokémon to join us to make our team stronger, since there are some trainers who have up to six Pokémon with them, but I'm sure we can still win!"

"More Pokémon?" Jay blinked, the slightest trace of disappointment in his voice.

It was enough for Ryan to pick up on, at least. "Don't worry, Jay. I'm sure you'll be good friends with the Pokémon we find!"

"Okay…"

"And you know what? No matter what Pokémon join us, you'll still be my best friend."

"Really?" The Eevee's eyes lit up. "Yay!" He ran forward slightly to jump onto a nearby rock. "You'll always be my best friend too—whoa!"

Jay wasn't the only one who looked surprised when he fell straight through the rock.

"Um… Jay?" Ryan blinked in surprise. Yet a moment later, everything was explained. The rock illusion faded, revealing the old Zoroark, an Eevee on his head.

"Can I not go anywhere without someone falling on me?" the fox huffed, shaking Jay off.

"Um, sorry," Ryan apologised sheepishly as the Eevee fell to the ground with an '_oof'_.

"Zoroark! Zoroark!" Jay squeaked. "We're going on a journey!"

"You are?" Zoroark was silent for a moment before a look of realisation flashed through his eyes. "Oh, yes. Now I remember. Natural was telling me about that not long ago. You're heading over to Unova to become one of those… _trainers_, correct?"

The fox had spat the word 'trainers' like it was a bad taste. Of course, Zoroark hadn't exactly had good experiences with humans in the past. "Don't worry, Zoroark. I'll be one of the good ones. Promise!"

"Well, I guess we can trust you not to purposefully hurt anyone," the dark-type muttered, wandering over to briefly ruffle the boy's hair with one paw, being careful not to claw him by accident. "And I doubt Jay will be causing any serious injuries for a while yet."

"Hey!"

"We won't, don't worry." Ryan managed to lift the paw away from his head, flattening his hair back down slightly with his other hand. "We'll miss you, Zoroark…"

The fox was silent for a moment, a quiet grumble echoing in his throat. "Yeah… I guess it won't really be the same without you here either, kiddo."

With a smile knowing that was probably the closest Zoroark would be to admitting he was going to miss them, Ryan reached up to quickly hug the fox. Zoroark seemed rather surprised by the action, but he didn't complain, patting the boy's back with one paw before he was released from the embrace.

"I'm not sure how long we'll be away, but… we'll see you when we get back, okay, Zoroark?"

"And I can enjoy not having you lot disturbing the peace around here," the fox mumbled, a smirk on his face as usual. "Good luck on your journey. I'm going to find somewhere quiet to go back to sleep…"

Ryan waved as the dark-type marched off through the bushes. Jay just watched him go, ears twitching.

"I wanna be like Zoroark someday!" the Eevee said, eyes shining in awe.

"What, you want to be a grumpy old fox?"

"No, I wanna be a strong Pokémon!" Jay squeaked excitedly, running in another circle.

"Of course," Ryan laughed. "Come on, let's hurry up and get to the docks before the boat leaves." He started off along the path once more.

"Okay! Okay!" Jay scurried after him. "What's a boat?"

* * *

"_That_ is a boat, Jay."

"Whoa, cool…!"

It had only taken ten minutes to reach the far end of the forest. Now a slope stretched out before them, leading down to the lake. But the view from here was amazing.

The lake water glimmered in the sunlight, throwing flashes of light around as the breeze rippled the water. Not far away, at the bottom of the slope, a wooden pier reached out over the water. A couple of boats were docked there, the most noticeable being the large passenger ferry that stood out among the crowd of rowing boats. A sailor was stationed on the pier, welcoming passengers aboard.

"Let's hurry; I think they're leaving soon," Ryan muttered, heading off down the slope. Jay let out an excited squeak before hurrying after him, hopping up onto the boy's shoulder so he wouldn't get left behind.

It wasn't long before the grass underfoot turned to wood, Ryan's footsteps echoing on the pier below as he ran towards the ship. There weren't many people around today; the ferry here was only a small service, used mainly by people travelling to and from the nearby town.

"Why, hello there!" the sailor waved. "Are you heading off somewhere, boy?"

"Yeah!" Ryan halted in front of him, Jay nearly losing his balance. "We're going to Unova!"

"Ah, heading out on your journey, I take it?" the man asked, tipping his hat slightly. As Ryan nodded in response, he continued. "Well, you take care over there, son. Can you show me your trainer card?"

After Ryan presented the card for him to see, the sailor nodded and stepped aside, allowing him to get on the boat. With a thank you and a wave, Ryan headed onboard.

It wasn't a massive ship, but it was big enough that the rocking of the water was almost unnoticeable underfoot. There were probably no more than fifteen or so passengers on board. As they waited for the boat to leave the dock, Ryan headed over to the bow of the ship, leaning on the railing and looking over at the horizon ahead. The Eevee on his shoulder soon climbed around to sit atop his bag instead so that there was less danger of him falling off into the water.

He could see the land in the distance. Unova. From here, most of what was visible was just forest, yet there was one area to the east where the ground was a lot higher, almost like mountains. That was where the Pokémon League was. And that was where they intended to aim for.

* * *

A twenty-minute boat journey across the lake, and the ship docked at the other side. The boy and Eevee were the first passengers off the ship, racing for the land end of the pier, jumping onto the grass.

"This is it! We're here! We're in Unova!" Ryan whooped, giving an excited jump. Wow, he was acting as excitable as Jay right now.

Except the Eevee seemed even more excited than he did. "Yay! Unova! Unova! We're in Unova!" After frolicking around for a moment he stopped to paw at the ground. "Huh… doesn't feel much different than the forest…"

"It may not seem that different at first, but we're finally here! We're here in Unova!" It still hadn't quite sunk in yet. It wasn't that long ago he'd been told he wasn't allowed to go on a journey, and now here they were, in the region…!

His cheering was soon cut off however as he noticed that some of the people around him were giving him odd stares.

"Um… heh…" he grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Whether the people had been staring because of how loud he was being or for the fact he'd been talking to a Pokémon he wasn't sure, but he wasn't overly keen on being the centre of attention. At his embarrassment, though, the attention was lost, a couple of the passersby giving amused smiles, and there was a quiet mutter of 'kids' from somewhere.

"Why were those people looking at us?" Jay blinked.

"Never mind, Jay. Let's just find out where to go."

Heading across the grass and deciding not to take the direct path like the other passengers from the boat had, Ryan settled in the shelter of a tree, dropping his bag at the base of it and retrieving the map. As he sat on the grass scanning the paper, Jay put his paws up against the boy's leg to try and see what he was looking at.

Shifting his arm so that the Eevee would be able to see, he pointed to the icon at the edge of the lake. "This is where we are now. If we head directly south of here for a while, we should come out somewhere near… Route 9?"

Jay just stared at the map for a moment, ears twitching slightly before he glanced back over at the water. "But the lake is much bigger than that…"

"Scale image, Jay," Ryan rolled his eyes. With one last long look at the map, he folded it back into his bag, standing up. "It shouldn't take long to get there."

Without waiting for a reply, he headed off into the trees, glancing back briefly to check that the Eevee was following him rather than trying to work out why the lake was more than five centimetres wide. Realising they were leaving, Jay hurriedly trotted after, tail waving in the air with excitement as they headed into foreign lands.

The place looked very similar to the forest back home; there were different kinds of trees here, but other than that, visually it was very similar. The atmosphere was not. It was easy to tell from the way that Jay kept scampering around and sniffing at the bushes and trees that there were a lot of Pokémon scents nearby, and the canopy echoed with the cries of young Rufflet and Vullaby.

After ten minutes of walking, a building was visible in the distance between the trees. It was impossible to see how tall the place was thanks to the blanket of leaves above, but it seemed pretty large, more important than a house. Were they nearly at the edge of the forest yet?

His attention was distracted from the building at the sound of rustling leaves ahead. Not really surprised considering they were in a forest, Ryan just shrugged it off, figuring it must be a wild Pokémon.

He definitely _was_ surprised at the lithe pink creature that hopped out of the bushes in front of them. Jay let out a squeak at the sight of the evolution.

Deep purple eyes glanced from the Eevee to the boy, white pupils staring intently. "… Hello."

"Hi there," Ryan smiled to the Pokémon, noting how even though it had spoken to him, it hadn't actually let out any sound at all. "You're an Espeon, aren't you?"

"That I am, yes. This area is safe now. You are free to pass."

"Safe?" he blinked. Had something happened here recently? "Okay. And you don't have to use telepathy to speak to me. I can understand you normally."

"Really?" the Espeon spoke at last, double-ended tail flicking. Her actual voice was much higher than the sound in his head; he preferred Pokémon talking in their normal tongue anyway, rather than through telepathy. It seemed much more natural than having a strange voice talking through his mind. Jay had just looked confused since the other Pokémon got here, clearly not being sent the telepathic messages as well. Licking a paw and running it over one ear, the pink creature hummed quietly. "You certainly are an unusual one…"

Ryan was about to ask what the psychic-type was doing out here alone in the forest – it was extremely rare to see a wild Espeon – but before he got the chance, there was a call from nearby.

"Espeon! Where have you wandered off to?"

The Pokémon's ears twitched at the voice, letting out a quiet trill to let whoever it was find her more easily. It wasn't long before there was the sound of crunching leaves, and a person appeared from amongst the trees.

"Oh, there you are—wait, kid, what are you doing here?"

It was a guy, maybe in his late teens or early twenties. He was definitely dressed for the outdoors, thick trousers tucked into hiking boots and sporting an outdoor jacket, yet other than that he didn't look much like a hiker. He didn't really seem to have the build for it, and also taking away from that image was the long blond hair tied back, and the glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose.

As Ryan just stared at him for a moment, not really sure why he was asking, the guy sighed. "Well, lucky for you this area is safe now. You can carry on through." He turned to walk away.

"Wait!" Ryan said hurriedly. "What happened here? Why is everyone talking about it being 'safe' now?"

"Everyone?" the guy muttered, glancing back briefly. "Oh, Espeon must have been speaking to you. It's none of your business what happened here, kid. All you need to know is it's safe to pass now."

"What's he talking about?" Jay asked quietly. By now the Eevee was nearly hiding behind Ryan's leg, nervous around the strangers.

"Don't worry, little one," Espeon cooed. She let out a quiet mew to get her trainer's attention before the jewel on her head glowed slightly, signalling that she was using telepathy once more.

And that was when the older stopped in his tracks.

"He can _what_?" he sputtered, turning to face them once more with a somewhat stunned impression.

"I told him that you can understand me," Espeon explained nonchalantly, licking a paw.

"Um… yeah…" Ryan grinned sheepishly. "I can understand Pokémon. Well, when they're not using telepathy, I mean."

"Interesting…" the guy mumbled quietly, eyes narrowed in thought. "Tell me, kid, are you a Pokémon trainer? You have a Pokémon with you; I'd go by the assumption that you are."

Ryan nodded. Jay's ears pricked slightly.

"Then, unless you're in a hurry, how about a small battle? My Espeon versus your Eevee."

"A battle?" Ryan echoed. "Um, sure…!"

"Alright then. Espeon!"

At her trainer's call, Espeon flicked her tail, getting back to her paws to pad forward, watching Jay curiously. The Eevee picked up on the atmosphere, jumping out from behind Ryan to land among the leaves in somewhat of a battle stance.

"A battle! A battle!"

"By the way, the name's Jeremy," the man stated, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "We'll let you move first."

It almost seemed like they were testing him. "Ryan. And okay then." Well, Espeon was a psychic type, so… "Jay, use bite."

At the command, Jay raced forwards, jumping towards the Espeon. Her ears twitched, but she didn't make any attempt to move out of the way. When the Eevee reached her, he sunk his teeth into one of her forelegs.

Even though the dark-type attack was super-effective, Espeon barely seemed to be affected at all.

"Huh!?" Jay gasped, eyes widening in shock.

"Sorry. Was that supposed to hurt?" Espeon smiled cheekily, shaking the Eevee off.

"Is that all?" Jeremy snorted. "Fine then. Espeon, use Psychic."

Ears twitching briefly and forked tail flicking, Espeon's eyes narrowed slightly. "Sorry about this, little one…"

"Huh?" Jay blinked. He tipped his head to one side as Espeon closed her eyes, the jewel on her forehead glowing once more.

The second she opened her eyes, a fierce wave of energy spread out, centring on the Eevee. Jay still looked confused as it headed for him, realising too late that it was something that could hurt him. He soon found out. With a wail, the normal-type was blasted back across the clearing, falling limply to the ground a few feet in front of Ryan, ears and tail flopping against the leaves.

"Jay!"

After a few seconds with no response, Ryan ran over to the defeated Eevee, frantically lifting him into his arms. Limbs flopped limply, but to a sigh of relief, the little creature was still breathing. _Thank Arceus, he's still alive…_

"You're not a very experienced trainer, are you?" Jeremy commented plainly.

"You didn't have to hit him with something so powerful!" Ryan snapped, glaring at the man. In the Pokémon battles he'd been in so far, none of the Pokémon had been attacked fiercely enough for them to actually be knocked unconscious.

Was this why his father didn't like battling?

"Hey, don't go blaming me." The older guy held up his hands in defence. "With your abilities, I expected you to be a stronger trainer."

That was a real slap to the face. Ryan's eyes widened in shock.

His first battle in Unova, and he'd lost. Not only that, but he was weak…

"Just put the Eevee back in its Poké ball and take it to the Pokémon Centre. Should be right as rain after that."

"I… fine…" Ryan muttered, standing up. He hugged the unconscious Pokémon tighter, hoping he'd be okay until they got to the centre.

"Like I said; put it in its Poké ball."

"He doesn't have one."

Jeremy blinked in surprise. "Is he even your Pokémon?"

"Of course he is! He just doesn't have a Poké ball!"

"Okay, okay, no need to shout at me, kid."

"My name's Ryan."

"Fine then, Ryan," Jeremy tutted, rolling his eyes and taking something from one of the pockets of his jacket. He tossed it to the boy. "Here."

Just about managing to catch the item while avoiding jerking the creature in his arms, Ryan just stared at it for a moment.

"Makes carrying Pokémon a lot easier," the older commented. "See ya, kid."

And with that, Jeremy strolled away into the trees. Espeon trotted after him, pausing briefly to glance back at the boy and mumble a brief 'sorry' before padding after her trainer.

And then he was left alone, the Eevee still unconscious in his arms and an empty Poké ball in one hand. Of course, there had been many lessons at school about using the capsules to catch Pokémon, but most of the Pokémon he met were wild. Still, Jay wanted to travel with him, which kind of made him _his_ Pokémon, so it was okay, right…? Besides, trainers usually kept them in these things, so it wasn't as if they harmed them in any way…

And besides, it'd be easier to get Jay over to the Pokémon Centre this way. Finally making up his mind, Ryan gently tapped the capsule against the Eevee's fur. A light briefly surrounded the creature before retreating back into the Poké ball, taking the normal-type with it. The orb shook for a moment before falling still with a quiet click.

Letting out a faint sigh, Ryan glanced around. Now he just had to find a Pokémon Centre. Too bad that guy hadn't pointed him in the right direction.

* * *

The building they'd seen before turned out to be much larger than he'd originally expected. A sign by the door dubbed the place as 'Shopping Mall Nine', and a quick check of the map showed that the nearest Pokémon Centre was in Opelucid City to the east. Ryan wasted no time hurrying along the road, avoiding the motorcyclists that patrolled the area.

The gate attendant gave a friendly wave as he raced past, and in good manners he briefly waved back before emerging into the city. On any other occasion he probably would have paid attention to the architecture of the city, how amazing the whole place looked, but that was in the back of his mind right now.

The bright colours of the Pokémon Centre stood out amongst the faded buildings. Ryan nearly tried to shove the doors open before realising they were automatic, and narrowly avoided falling through them in his haste. His skirmish with the door attracted the attention of the nurse behind the counter, and she gave a friendly smile as he hurried across the room.

"Hello, what can I do for you?"

"Y-you can heal Pokémon here, right…?" Despite the common knowledge, Ryan had to ask anyway. He was worried. It was a force of habit.

"Yes, yes," the nurse nodded. She held out her hand for the Poké ball. "Are you a new trainer?"

Ryan handed the object over, never letting it out of his sight. "Yeah… I only arrived in Unova today."

"Well, be more careful from now on, okay?" She went over to place the capsule in some kind of machine, which lit up in reaction.

"Try telling that to the guy who was battling me."

"Oh, you were in a battle with someone? Now I see. There are a lot of strong trainers around these parts, seeing as the Pokémon League isn't too far from here. Maybe challenging them isn't such a good idea if you're not that experienced of a trainer."

"Duly noted," Ryan muttered, watching as the machine's light faded.

The nurse returned the Poké ball to him, the same friendly smile on her face as before. "Here you go. You have a trainer card, right?"

He nodded, about to retrieve it from the zipped pocket of his hoodie.

"Oh, don't worry; you don't need to show me. Just remember that if you're in need of food or a place to stay, or if your Pokémon need rest, just come to a Pokémon Centre, okay? They're all open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and services are free to Pokémon trainers."

"Okay, thanks," Ryan nodded. He wanted to make sure Jay was okay. Since being on the machine, the Poké ball had been rattling slightly, as if the creature inside was trying to get out.

With a brief wave to the lady, he hurried back outside, pressing the button on the capsule.

As the light released the creature inside, Jay was left squirming around on the old path, wailing loudly, almost as if he was in pain.

"Jay!" Ryan cried, crouching down to try and rest and hand on the Eevee's side to calm him down. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

At the sound of his voice, the creature froze, snapping back to reality at last. The second a hand brushed against his fur he jolted, jumping away hurriedly and pressing against the ground, trying to hide behind his tail.

"S-something… s-something really w-weird happened…" the Eevee whimpered quietly, his words coming out fast and almost incoherent. "Espeon did that funny wave thing, and… and then everything was dark, and then I was in this weird place all alone, and—!"

"Jay, Jay, it's alright." Ryan interrupted before his panicked train of thought could go completely off the rails. "You were just inside a Poké ball, okay?" He held the capsule up. "I just put you in there so I could get you to the Pokémon Centre so they could heal you."

"But… but…" Jay's eyes widened as he shrank back further. "It was you! You made the creepy place appear! And, and… and you didn't tell me... you said you knew a lot about this place! You never said anyone could do horrible things like that!"

"Look, I'm sorry if you don't like being in the Poké ball, okay? It was easier to carry you that way. Anyway, all Pokémon can be put inside Poké balls; it's not as if it hurt you."

"I don't care!" the Eevee snapped, scrambling away from him, ears pressed flat to the back of his neck. "I hate you!"

As Jay turned to race away, Ryan was left staring in shock for a moment. He soon shook his head brusquely, snapping back to reality and jumping to his feet to hurry after the Pokémon. "Jay, come back!"

The Eevee didn't listen, vanishing into the tunnel back out to Route 9 just as it came into view.

_He can't have really meant that. He's just shocked still..._

Yet by the time Ryan emerged back out onto the route once more, Jay had vanished.


	11. New Faces

**Hey look a chapter that isn't like 3 weeks late. Also we ain't seen the last of N and Touko nope.**

* * *

The food they gave at the Pokémon Centre was actually surprisingly decent – compared to the stuff they served at the school cafeteria at least – but even so, Ryan found himself just picking at it with the fork he'd been given. Knowing full well he'd be in trouble if his parents knew he wasn't eating properly, he'd decided to at least get some food, and pasta was something he usually liked at home. Yet he just wasn't hungry right now.

He'd spent hours searching for Jay. Most of that time in the forest at the south of Route 9, but there had been no sign of him. There hadn't seemed to be many wild Pokémon around either, especially compared to the forests on the other side of the lake. Maybe that was somehow connected to what that Jeremy guy had been saying earlier, about it being 'safe' now, like something had happened there before.

Even so, their games of hide and seek had obviously paid off, unfortunately for him. Jay was either determined to hide from him, or he'd left the area. Ryan couldn't decide which was worse. And now, it was getting late in the day, so he'd had to pretty much give up the search…

"Not hungry, eh?"

His gaze left the almost untouched plate at the voice next to him. "Uh… not really…"

"Y'know, a young thing like you really needs to eat! Where else does all that wild energy you kids have come from?" the man gave a friendly smile. "Doesn't work so well for me, but eh, a guy can dream."

Ryan just stared at the guy, not really sure how to respond. The man in question seemed quite old, maybe somewhere in his sixties, but despite that his hair was still a flaming red colour. It almost looked like a fire itself under the centre's lights, flared up in places and tied at the back as if to stop him looking like a flaming Sandslash. His outfit wasn't exactly the most usual either, especially with the brightly-coloured poncho he was wearing.

"Hmm, you seem kinda down. Something happen?"

"Um… kinda…" Ryan muttered, somewhat taken aback.

"I guess that explains the lack of appetite, then," the guy commented, taking a thoughtful bite out of an apple. "You look kind of familiar, you know…"

"I do?" he blinked. "Well, I only arrived in Unova today… and I don't think I've met you before…" _I definitely would have remembered someone who looks like that._

"Y'see, that's the thing. Can't tell what it is, but there's definitely something familiar about you. Oh, ah, you mind if I take a seat?"

Ryan just shrugged. "Sure, I guess…"

"Cheers. Walking around all day really takes it out of you, especially when you get to my age!" he grinned, dropping into one of the chairs across the table. "Still, it's funny. I never forget a face. Names, yes, but I never forget a face…"

_Face?_ "Well… you might have known one of my parents… they used to live in Unova."

"Your parents, huh? Hmm, yes, that could be it. What are their names?"

"N and Touko."

At that, the man's eyes widened slightly in realisation. "Oh, now I know! I remember those two kids… been a long time since I've seen either of them. Though I suppose if they've left Unova then that could be why. Had the feeling there might have been something between them, but still—anyway, I bet they're great parents. Let me guess, trying to follow in your mother's footsteps, eh?"

"Sort of," Ryan shrugged. "Not doing a very good job so far…"

"I'm guessing this is relating to whatever happened. Something go wrong?"

For a moment, Ryan remained silent. Wondering if he wanted to tell this stranger or not. "I… one of my friends—Pokémon – ran off earlier. I couldn't find him."

"Ahh, I see…" the man looked thoughtful as he took another bite from the apple. "Well, no use giving up just yet, right? Pokémon and people are there for each other. But, before you go looking for him again, you'd better get some food in ya." He motioned to the plate.

"Right…!" Ryan nodded, starting to feel more confident. He'd find Jay eventually. He just needed to keep looking. Besides, perhaps the Eevee would have calmed down by now. After finally taking a bite of his meal – it was starting to get cold by now, but that didn't matter when he realised how hungry he was – he glanced up at the older once more. "Oh, by the way, I'm Ryan."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ryan!" the man smiled. "My name is Alder."

"Alder!?" Ryan almost choked. "A-as in, Alder the former champion of Unova!?"

At that, the old man burst out laughing. "Yes, that's me. I don't see why that's such a big deal; your mother is a former champion too!"

"I-I know, but… but…!"

"I get it, I get it," Alder grinned, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "I guess you don't really think of her as the champion since she's your mother. Well, we've certainly had a plethora of champions in the past— I don't know; must have been sixteen years since she defeated me. I guess I got a bit out of practice after that, seeing as when she left, the trainer who was named the champion after that was none other than Iris."

"Iris...?" He'd heard the name mentioned, probably because she was a champion, but didn't know much about her.

"One of the youngest champions Unova has ever had. She's gone back to being the dragon-type gym leader since she was defeated. She runs the gym in this very town, in fact."

"There's a gym here?" Ryan perked up slightly.

"Yes, but it's very tough. Trainers are advised to challenge the Opelucid gym last. Iris isn't exactly known for taking it easy on challengers. I think that's something she got from her mentor, Drayden." He smiled slightly.

"Ohh, okay," Ryan nodded, paying more attention to the advice. "…You said Iris was defeated? Have there been many more champions since?"

"Only one," Alder shook his head, his expression starting to look more serious. "His name is Nate. He tends to travel a lot. Not that I can really complain about that, of course… still…" He trailed off, expression unreadable, almost as if he was going to say something else. Yet soon the frown that tugged at the corners of his mouth lifted into a friendly smile. "Anyway, if you're planning on looking for your Pokémon, you need to eat up, lad. I'm sure you'll find him."

Ryan gave a determined nod. "Thanks…!"

"Alright," Alder stood up from the chair. "Good luck, Brian!"

"My name is Ryan…"

"Right, right. Good luck, Ryan!"

* * *

The trees created a thick blanket of shadow, obscuring the pale blue light which illuminated the paths behind him. It was getting very late by now, the last traces of the day vanishing along with the fading sunlight that just barely silhouetted the mountains on the horizon. The occasional Pokémon cry echoed from the near silence within, only ever masked by the rumbling of motorbike engines from the main part of the route.

_Maybe… maybe I should just wait until morning…_

_No_. Ryan shook his head hurriedly, as if that would shake free the confidence. It was just a forest. Just like the one back at home.

Although he'd never been there alone at night…

Taking a long, shaky breath, he gathered his wits, moving one step closer to the shadows.

"There's… nothing in this forest other than Pokémon…" he murmured quietly to himself. That was right. Just Pokémon; nothing to be afraid of.

And besides, Jay was probably hiding in there somewhere, or so he hoped. He needed to find him. That was the top priority right now. No time for fear.

When another few steps into the forest didn't cause anything to lunge at him from the shadows, he started to gain some confidence. Yeah, there was nothing to be scared of here.

Then there was the snap of a twig from somewhere nearby. The sharp sound echoed around, impossible to locate even the direction.

"Ah! Jay…?" Ryan called, trying to stop his voice from cracking in fear.

No response. There was a quiet rustling of leaves from somewhere deeper in the forest, but that was it.

"It's just… j-just a wild Pokémon…" he said quietly. Ryan didn't usually talk to himself. It was just a habit when he got nervous. Hopefully there wasn't anyone around to think he was going mad.

Recovering from that brief moment of panic, he soon continued through the forest, listening out for any more sounds. Perhaps the rustling leaves had been Jay. Then again, there were probably a lot of wild Pokémon here too…

Oh, what was he thinking? Jay _was_ a wild Pokémon. He'd agreed to go with him to Unova, yes, but the Eevee had never agreed to being put inside a Poké ball. Maybe that was why he'd gotten so angry and run off.

Maybe he didn't _want_ to be his Pokémon. Maybe he just wanted to remain wild.

"Oh look, a human. You really have no idea where you're heading, do you?"

A Pokémon's voice. It definitely wasn't Jay, but where had it come from? Ryan looked around him, scanning the foliage for anything other than leaves before his scanning gaze finally lifted to the branches above.

It was difficult to see much in the lack of light, but amongst the shadows of the forest, he could just about make out some pink and yellow fur.

"That's probably because I don't know this place," Ryan replied simply.

Red eyes glinted in the dim light as they widened, and the leaves rustled as the Mienfoo hopped down onto a lower branch. "Hold up, hold up. What did you just say?"

"I don't know my way around this forest?"

"… Okay, so that wasn't exactly word for word, but… how the heck did you just _reply_ to me? Can you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yup."

"… Huh. Weird human." She huffed.

"Well, anyways," Ryan continued, slightly offended. "Have you seen an Eevee come through here?"

The Mienfoo simply flopped back against the tree, crossing her hind legs in a carefree way and examining one paw absently. "Maybe I have. Maybe I haven't."

"So… is that a yes or no?"

"It's a maybe."

"Right," Ryan rolled his eyes. "Of course. I'm going to keep looking. See ya."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, wait!" the fighting-type jumped back to her paws, shaking the branch slightly and causing a few of the reddening leaves to flutter to the ground. "Do you even know where you're going? Do you know what's further that way?"

"Didn't I tell you just now? I don't know this forest. I'm new to Unova."

"Oh, of course, yeah. Then that makes a lot of sense. You gotta be plain crazy otherwise to just waltz into Gothorita's territory."

"So… a Gothorita lives around here?" He blinked.

"Yeah, and she claims that patch of the forest for herself. I dunno if that Eevee is still there, but she doesn't like intruders."

"So you _did_ see him."

"I never said I didn't," she shrugged. "I was just very vague on the matter."

"Well, I noticed that much," Ryan tutted. "I'm going to look for Jay." He took off running through the trees.

"Hey! Why the heck are you going into such a dangerous place just to look for an Eevee?"

"Because he's my friend!"

The Mienfoo just stared as the boy disappeared into the shadows of the forest. "Friend, huh?" She dropped down to sit on the branch, pawing at one ear casually. "Crazy human."

* * *

Ryan kept running through the forest, noticing that the deeper into the trees he went the darker it became. The leaves here were thicker, blotting out whatever moonlight might have actually been able to leak through, and soon he slowed his pace to avoid tripping over anything.

"Jay?" he called quietly, noting how the word carried through the forest despite the fact that he was keeping his voice low.

There was no reply. He hadn't really expected any. For all he knew, the Eevee might not have been here at all.

Except that Mienfoo had seen him. That must have been Jay. There weren't many wild Eevee around. She'd never said how long ago it was she'd seen him though…

The rustling of leaves nearby grabbed his attention, and Ryan jumped around hurriedly, hoping to see familiar brown fur.

Whatever he would have seen was masked by the beam of coloured light that flashed past just inches from his face.

Scrambling back hurriedly and not entirely sure what had just happened, he searched for the source of whatever that had been. The leaves rustled once more, and a black and white Pokémon stepped rather gracefully out of the bushes.

_A Gothorita… this must have been the one they were talking about. Which means that must have been psybeam…_

"What are you doing here?" the psychic-type growled, the snarling attitude not seeming fit at all for the appearance of the Pokémon.

"I'm looking for my friend," Ryan said plainly.

"No you're not. Get out."

"I will when I find him."

"No. Now."

"Look, I'll leave when I find Jay, alright?" he tutted. "It's kinda important that I find him—"

"No, ignorant human!" Gothorita snapped, eyes glowing a fierce icy blue. "I said _get out_!"

The last two words came partially as telepathy, a voice screaming so loud in his head that Ryan clamped his hands over his ears as a reflex in trying to block out the noise. The volume messed with his balance which was made even worse by the dark, and the next thing he knew his back had hit a tree.

His stunned senses returning to him at last, Ryan noticed that the Gothorita's eyes were still glowing. She was about to attack him again.

And he was still too disorientated from having that voice in his head to be able to escape.

"Go away! I won't let you hurt Ryan!"

The psychic-type looked around angrily at the high-pitched voice, trying to work out where it was. Ryan wasn't exactly sure _where_ it had come from, but he certainly knew who. And that was why he didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified when a blur of brown fur shot out from the bushes, landing in front of him and growling at the aggressive Pokémon.

"Jay, don't!" Ryan cried, remembering all too well what had happened earlier when he'd tried to fight Espeon.

The Eevee didn't have any time to reply, as the Gothorita seemed to have decided to focus her hostility on the Pokémon instead of the boy. Another multicoloured wave was sent shooting through the air, right on target.

"Jay!"

And yet nothing happened. The Eevee didn't seem to be affected by the attack at all, the light simply reflecting off his fur. Gothorita seemed just as surprised as Ryan did.

"I said I won't let you!" Jay snapped. "He's my friend, and I won't let him get hurt!"

"Jay…" Ryan murmured, eyes wide. "Your… your fur is glowing…"

"Huh?" the Eevee glanced back at himself. His brown fur was lit up with a bright glow, steadily getting brighter until it was too harsh to look at amongst the darkness of the forest and Ryan found he had to hold up one arm to shield his eyes from the light. He'd lost sight of the Gothorita and hoped this wasn't some kind of attack.

And yet still, somehow he knew it wasn't. This was something else.

It wasn't long before the light faded. And now, the creature standing before him was no longer an Eevee.

"Whoa…" Jay lifted a paw experimentally as if to check it was actually his. Not only was he a lot taller now but his fur was no longer a mix of brown, instead pitch black and outlined with yellow rings. "This is really cool—! Oh, right…"

Setting his attention back on the Gothorita, Jay lunged towards the psychic type, teeth snapping just centimetres from her face. With a yelp followed by an indignant snarl knowing she wouldn't be able to stand up to the dark-type, the Gothorita soon fled into the bushes, out of sight.

"Did I win?" Jay asked, jumping around to glance back at the boy.

Ryan couldn't help but grin. "Yes, Jay. You won."

"Yay!" the dark-type cheered, tail waving from side to side. At the difference, Jay glanced back briefly. "Oh! Oh! I changed! I evolved! What am I now?" He ran over to Ryan, eyes wide with curiosity.

"You're an Umbreon now," Ryan smiled brightly, reaching down to ruffle the Pokémon's ears.

"And, and what type?"

"Dark."

"Yay! I'm a dark type!" Jay chirped, running around in a circle. "Like Zoroark!" He jumped up at Ryan, probably intending to attempt to hop into his arms but instead ended up knocking him over.

"Ow," Ryan muttered as his back hit the tree once more. "Jay, I think you're too big for me to pick up now…"

"Aww," the Umbreon sighed, deciding to sit on the boy's stomach instead. "Why were you out here anyway? I thought you didn't go into the forest at night?"

"I don't, usually. But I needed to find you. I mean, you're my best friend, right? I'm not just going to leave you behind!"

"Really?" Jay's ears twitched, red eyes widening in surprise. "But, but I thought you'd be mad at me. For running away."

"No, silly." Ryan hugged the Pokémon tightly as if he were worried he might disappear again. "If anything, I thought you might be angry at _me_. I thought… that maybe you'd decided you didn't want to come with me on my journey after all. I mean, you're a wild Pokémon. I should have just carried you to the Pokémon Centre instead of putting you inside a Poké ball."

Jay seemed very happy at the hug, ears twitching both in content and showing he was listening to the trainer's words. "But I do wanna go! Poké balls are just weird. But it wasn't that bad. Just different. And everything's different. Even I'm different. I evolved, I evolved!" He jumped off of him to go and skip around excitedly once more.

Rolling his eyes slightly, Ryan climbed back to his feet. _Well, at least I know Jay has only changed on the outside._ "Come on. We should probably head back to the Pokémon Centre. It's getting really late, and we've got a lot of travelling to do tomorrow. Sleep sounds pretty good right about now."

Jay stopped his excited hopping to glance up at him. "Do I have to stay out here…?"

"Nope! That's the good thing about Pokémon Centres. They'll let Pokémon inside!"

"Yay!" The Umbreon hopped over to him once more, looking like he was about to jump again.

"But," Ryan said hurriedly, holding out one arm to stop him. "There's no way you're going to be able to sit on my shoulder now. "

* * *

The only sounds to be heard were the quiet calls of nocturnal Pokémon in the forest and the almost silent hum of the fridge in the background. The way the moonlight washed over the scenery was quite a sight, as long as you were paying enough attention to actually notice it.

"Touko…?"

Finally breaking free from the somewhat trance she'd been in staring out of the window, Touko glanced over her shoulder in surprise. "Oh, hey N. What're you doing up?"

"I could ask the same of you," he mumbled, voice edged with a yawn as he rubbed at his eyes sleepily. "Woke up and you were gone, so when you didn't come back after ten minutes… anyway, why are you staring out of the window…?"

"Sorry," she apologised with a half-hearted smile. "I was just wondering what Ryan's up to…"

"Sleeping, hopefully." N gave a tired laugh. "It's two in the morning."

"Oh, really?" Touko had to look over at the clock on the wall, almost invisible in the low light. In truth, she'd got up to go and fetch a glass of water, but she wasn't really thirsty at all.

"Aren't you tired?" he asked, wandering over to wrap his arms around her midsection, his head resting sleepily on hers.

"I am…" Tired enough that she almost nodded in response to the question, before realising she'd end up hitting him in the chin if she did so. "I'm just worried… do you think he's okay out there on his own?"

"He's not on his own," N reminded her simply, hugging her closer. "He has friends with him."

"I guess…" Touko let out a long sigh, bringing her arms up to rest against his.

Not really knowing what else to say, she looked back at the forest once more. Many thoughts crossed over her mind, as to whether Ryan had made it to Unova alright, whether he had managed to find somewhere to stay at a Pokémon Centre… had her mother worried this much when she'd left on her journey all those years ago? That was something she'd never really thought about much…

A short while later the silence was broken. "You don't think… that people still remember what happened, right…?" N's question was brief, as if he knew she would understand what he was talking about.

"N…" her voice was little more than a murmur. He was still worried about that after all this time… "That was sixteen years ago. And anyway, I've told you before, it wasn't your fault." She turned to face him, finding his eyes full of concern and maybe even a hint of fear. "Ryan doesn't even know about any of that. Everyone will have forgotten by now."

"I know… I hope you're right…" A quiet sigh escaped from him. "He'll be fine…"

"Right." She stepped forward to hug him tightly, an action that was soon returned albeit more gentle. "Let's go back to bed. If I keep you up any longer you'll use that as an excuse to sleep in really late tomorrow morning."

N couldn't suppress a quiet laugh. Sometimes she knew him too well. "Okay."


	12. Friends and Family

**Did I ever mention how much I love Alder?**

**Sorry I'm getting these chapters out so slow ; ; But at least something interesting will happen in the next chapter? Maybe?**

* * *

At breakfast the next morning, Ryan found himself glad that the Pokémon Centre appeared to have endless supplies of Pokémon food. Jay's appetite seemed to have increased as well after evolving, and even though he didn't like the food as much as berries, he still ate a lot of it. Ryan just sat there wondering where it all went, seeing as he'd finished his cereal ages ago. Perhaps Jay just burned too much energy from all his jumping around.

"Done yet?" he laughed after watching the bowl empty for the second time.

"Yep." Jay licked his lips, clearing off any remaining traces of food, before sitting back and looking up at his trainer. "What now?"

"Well, we're heading off soon. It'll be quite a walk to get to Nuvema Town, so we might not get there until tomorrow…"

"Hey there, Rhys!" a cheery voice boomed from nearby. "I see you found your Pokémon!"

"My name's Ryan, not Rhys…" he pointed out, seeing Alder walk over to them. "And yeah, I did!"

"Well, I got the first letter right, at least," the old man shrugged with a smile. He reached down to pet the Umbreon. "Hey there, little fella."

Jay let out a happy squeak as he was petted, ears twitching. A few moments later he looked up at the man. "Why is his head on fire?"

Ryan couldn't help but laugh at the question. Alder glanced over in surprise. "What's so funny…?"

"Oh, erm, nothing… just something Jay said…"

"Jay…?"

_Oh Arceus, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that. _"Um… Jay is… the Umbreon…" He trailed off. The last time anyone here had seen him talking to his Pokémon, they'd looked at him as if he were mad.

Much so his surprise, however, Alder just gave a friendly laugh. "Oh, I see! Can you understand him?"

"Yeah. But I guess if you don't believe me, I'd understand…"

"Why would I not believe you? That kid… uhh… Ed, was it…? Your father, anyway… he could understand them too, right?"

"His name's N, and yeah," Ryan nodded. He'd forgotten that the former champion knew his parents.

"I must say, certainly surprised me when I battled him," Alder commented, standing up straight and rubbing his back slightly after having leaned down to pet the dark-type. "Not every day you run into someone who can actually understand what a Pokémon is saying!"

"You _battled_ him?" Ryan asked, eyes wide. He couldn't imagine his father wanting to have a Pokémon battle with anyone, especially after all of those lectures about Pokémon being friends rather than tools for people to control. He'd definitely never even imagined he'd have fought someone as strong as a former _champion_!

"Ahh, long story," Alder shrugged. "Anyway, I suppose you're heading off today, right, kiddo?"

"Yeah. We're travelling to Nuvema Town. That's where Mum said I should head first."

"I see! That's a pretty long hike, mind you." He brought a hand up to his chin thoughtfully. "I'm heading back home to Floccesy Town this morning. Nuvema isn't that out of the way, so if you want, we could give you a lift."

"Huh…?" Ryan just blinked at him, not really sure what he was talking about.

"Oh, don't worry! Two of my Pokémon can fly. I'm sure Baldwin won't mind carrying you."

_Flying? _He'd never flown on a Pokémon before. But it definitely sounded like fun, and hey, not having to walk all the way across Unova was a nice bonus. "Sure!"

"Alright then! I'll be waiting outside. Don't take too long!"

* * *

After quickly checking over his belongings to make sure he had everything, Ryan was soon faced with a dilemma. A rather important dilemma.

"Uh, Jay…?" he started somewhat cautiously, not sure how the Umbreon would react. "If we're going to be flying across Unova, I'll need to put you inside the—I mean, _your_ Poké ball. You could fall off while we're flying otherwise, and that'd be even worse than falling out of one of the trees in the forest."

Oh dear, he wasn't so sure he was looking forward to flying anymore.

Jay just sat in silence for a moment, blinking up at him. His black-and-yellow tail waved back and forth slowly, and briefly Ryan wondered if the Umbreon had even been listening to him. Until… "Yeah, sure!"

"Wait, what?" Ryan blinked. "You're okay with being put in there?"

"Yeah! It was just weird before, because I didn't know what happened. Anyway, falling isn't fun!"

"… Okay then," the boy shrugged, still slightly baffled that he'd agreed so soon. He took the Poké ball from the pocket on his bag, holding it out to the dark-type. Jay padded forward to experimentally nudge the orb with his nose and was immediately sucked inside with a flash of red light.

Now Ryan just needed to decide where he was going to put the capsule; simply stuffing it into the pockets on his bag seemed somewhat disrespectful when there was a Pokémon inside. In the end he decided the safest place would probably be one of the zip pockets of his hoodie. At least there it was easy to get to and wouldn't fall out.

Problem solved, Ryan hooked his backpack over his shoulders and headed out of the Pokémon Centre to find Alder. And, well, finding him certainly didn't take long.

"Whoa…!"

As he had said he would be, Alder was waiting outside, although with him were two Pokémon; a Braviary who glanced around at the sound of footsteps, and a Volcarona whose wings fluttered lazily as it hovered just above the ground.

"Ah, there you are, Robert!"

"It's Ryan…"

"Right, right, Ryan. I'll get it right eventually," Alder laughed with a friendly smile. "Nuvema Town, right?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Nuvema."

"You heard the lad, Baldwin," Alder stated, patting the Braviary's neck. "We're giving Ryan here a lift over to Nuvema Town before heading on home, okay?"

_Good, he finally got my name right._

Baldwin nodded, walking over to the boy, wings still neatly folded behind his back, although he spread them slightly upon halting. "Hop on, kid. Apparently you can understand me," he cawed quietly.

"Uh… right. Yeah." Hesitating for a moment and unsure really of how to go about this, Ryan eventually stepped forward, reaching up to place a hand on the bird's feathers. Noticing how confused he looked, the Braviary eventually lowered a wing for him to grab onto to haul himself onto his back.

"Ever flown on a Pokémon before?" Alder asked, already settled on the back of the Volcarona, as if this were something he was used to.

"No, actually," Ryan shrugged, trying to find something to hang onto that wouldn't involve accidentally pulling the bird's feathers out.

"Well then, don't worry, it isn't dangerous! Besides, if you fall off, Baldwin will catch you."

"Wait, what!?" _Fall off!?_

"Off we go!"

Ryan didn't get a chance to say anything more as the bird spread his wings, drawing them quickly through the air in a motion that caused him to lift off the ground. Out of reflex Ryan wrapped his arms around the Braviary's neck as they soared off into the sky after the Volcarona.

* * *

The journey probably didn't take more than half an hour, although it seemed like a lot longer now that Ryan had gained the worry about falling off. It was a _very_ long way to the ground. Even so, he did manage to build up the courage to glance down, amazed at how the Unova region looked from a birds eye view. There were a few places he could recognise from the map, such as a massive bridge over the water and the desert, but without actually being able to get the map out and look, that was all he knew.

After a while they finally landed at the end of Route 1, a fresh autumn breeze rustling through the grass and carrying a few leaves from the nearby trees to settle on the path. As Baldwin settled on the ground, the bird patiently waited for Ryan to climb off his back. It felt weird to stand on solid ground after being up in the air for so long.

"Thank you, mister Alder!" he called above the hum of the Volcarona's wings.

"No problem!" the former champion waved. "We'd best be heading off now. Good luck on your journey, lad!" He patted the fire-type's back as if a command to fly.

Ryan waved until the three of them were out of sight over the trees nearby. He was here, at Route 1, and he'd just got a lift here from a former _champion_…!

He was interrupted from his amazed thoughts by the sound of ringing. For a moment he glanced around, temporarily forgetting the Xtransciever on his wrist until he finally tracked down the source of the noise. Reading the Caller ID – 'Home' – he soon tapped the answer button. "Mum?"

"Wow, Ryan, do I really sound that feminine?"

"Wait, Dad?" he blinked. Since he was calling from the home phone there was no image. "Erm, no… I just wasn't expecting you to be calling me, that's all." And now he didn't need to check the time to know it was past 10AM.

"Touko's busy clearing up after breakfast. And currently glaring at me for not helping her," N explained with a quiet laugh. "Anyway, how are you and Eevee?"

"I'm fine. And Jay isn't an Eevee anymore!"

"You mean he evolved?"

"Yeah! He's an Umbreon now!"

"That's great! Eevee can only evolve into Umbreon if the bond between trainer and Pokémon is very strong… have you met any new friends yet?"

"We've met some Pokémon, but Jay's the only one travelling with me so far."

"Okay. Hang on; I think your mother wants to speak to you…"

Ryan waited patiently as the phone was handed over. He wanted to head on over to the village already rather than standing around out here on the route.

"Ryan! I hear Jay evolved?" Touko asked, an almost suspicious hint to her voice.

"Yeah, he did. He evolved into an Umbreon!"

"I would have thought he'd become an Espeon. Why on earth were you out battling in the middle of the night!?"

"Erm…" Whoops. Probably should have thought up an excuse for that one. "It… took us a while to get to the Pokémon Centre, and we got attacked by a wild Pokémon…" Well, it wasn't _exactly_ a lie…

"… Well, okay, fair enough. I take it you've made it to Unova then. Where are you now?"

"Route 1. I can see Nuvema from here!"

"What? How did you get there so fast? That's all the way on the other side of Unova!"

"I met the former champion Alder when I was in Opelucid City. He said that Nuvema wasn't too out of the way compared to where he was heading, so he gave us a lift here!"

"Ah, I see. Yeah, that definitely sounds like Alder," she laughed. "Anyway, I'll let you go now. Have a good day, honey, and don't forget to say hi to Mum for me!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ryan rolled his eyes. "Bye."

After ending the call and suddenly realising how quiet it seemed, Ryan fished the Poké ball from his pocket to let Jay back out into the open. Upon landing the Umbreon lost his footing slightly, falling onto the grass with an 'oof'.

"Wait, wait, I wasn't ready that time!" the dark-type complained as he scrambled hurriedly back to his paws.

Ryan couldn't help but laugh quietly. "You'll get it right next time. Nuvema Town is just ahead!"

He took off at a run along the path, Jay soon picking up on the excitement and scurrying after him.

Nuvema wasn't exactly a massive area, a lot quieter than the centre of the town at home, but it could certainly be compared to the outskirts by the forest where they actually lived; peaceful and homely with the occasional person or Pokémon walking by. Ryan knew that his grandmother's house was somewhere in the centre of the small village, so finding the place wasn't too much of a task. After wandering the streets for a while and reading the names on the letterboxes, he finally came across one he recognised.

_Rebecca White_

"Found it," he spoke up just as the Umbreon walked into the back of his legs by accident.

"What were we looking for again?" Jay asked, rubbing his nose with one paw.

"Nan's house. Hopefully she's in."

Somewhat nervously, he walked over to the front door, tapping lightly on the wood, hopefully loud enough that anyone inside would hear. For a moment he wondered if nobody had heard, but just as he was about to try knocking again there was the sound of the handle being turned.

"Hi Nan," Ryan smiled at the woman who'd opened the door.

He couldn't really remember much about his grandmother, since he hadn't seen her in at least six years. Still, she did look vaguely familiar. She was most likely somewhere in her mid to late fifties, a few hints of grey in her brown hair, yet her blue eyes lit up with recognition as soon as he spoke.

"Ryan? Goodness, I haven't seen you in years!" She reached down slightly to pull him into a hug. "How are you, sweetie?"

He couldn't help but cringe slightly. _She's just as bad as Mum… _"I'm fine."

"Heading out on your journey at last, hmm?" Mrs. White smiled fondly. "You've definitely gotten taller since I saw you last! Oh, who is your friend?"

Released from the hug at last, Ryan glanced over at the Umbreon, who was sat looking up at the lady hopefully. "This is Jay! He's travelling with me."

"Well, hello there, Jay." She petted the dark-type's ears gently, causing him to let out a happy squeak. Standing back up once more, she looked back over at Ryan. "Oh, where are my manners? Come in, come in!" She opened the door wider to let them through. "Here, Poppy, we have guests!"

At the call, a mound of brown fur moved on the sofa, ears pricking curiously. The Lillipup stretched, jaws wide in a yawn, before hopping to the ground and trotting over.

"Hi Poppy," Ryan smiled, petting the little dog's head.

"Hey there," she barked happily, stubby tail wagging. "You're Ryan, aren't you?"

"Yep, that's me." He was glad she remembered him. He'd heard about how when Touko had left Unova to live with N, she'd left her mother with one of the Pokémon she'd caught on her journey to keep her company. He didn't know where his grandfather was or what had happened to him, and when he'd asked his mother she hadn't known either, just saying it was something that they didn't talk about.

"You used to be a lot shorter than that, didn't you?" Poppy asked simply.

"People grow up," Ryan shrugged. Sometimes Lillipups really were like their owners.

"Haven't lost that ability to understand Pokémon, hmm?" his grandmother asked brightly. "Anyway, Ryan, what are you planning on doing today? I hope I'm not keeping you if you need to get somewhere."

"We were just planning on heading over to meet Professor Juniper," he explained. "Mum told me I should go and see her."

"Oh, yes, that is a good idea! She's the one who gave Touko her first Pokémon. I remember it as if it were yesterday… ah well, I'm sure she'd love to meet you! I think she's at the lab today, so why don't you head over there now? I'll have some lunch waiting when you get back! If you're travelling, you need a good meal."

"Sounds great!" he beamed. "Thanks, Nan!"

As the boy raced back out of the door, the Umbreon soon dashing after him, Mrs. White let out a quiet sigh. "Takes after his mother in so many ways," she smiled fondly.


End file.
